The United States asked Israel to suspend a planned attack on the al-Masnaa, Jdeidet Yabous border crossing between Syria and Lebanon, after an evacuation warning was issued ahead of a possible strike on the site, according to Israel’s public broadcaster.
According to sources cited by the broadcaster, the U.S. request included
leaving the handling of activity linked to the crossing to Syrian security agencies.
On Sunday evening, April 5, the broadcaster said the request came alongside Syrian assurances that they were working to prevent weapons smuggling into Lebanon.
The Israeli army said Hezbollah was using the crossing and the nearby road for military purposes, adding that it had been prepared to strike the site before the operation was suspended following a U.S. request that the broadcaster described as having “political dimensions.”
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee had warned people in the area of the al-Masnaa crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border, as well as all travelers on the M30 road, to evacuate the area before it was targeted.
Meanwhile, Syria’s General Authority for Land and Sea Ports and Customs announced on April 4 the temporary suspension of movement through the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing with Lebanon until any potential risks had passed.
Adraee said, “Lebanese Hezbollah uses the crossing for military purposes and to smuggle combat equipment.”
He added that the Israeli army would launch strikes on the crossing in the near future, warning that anyone remaining in the area would be putting themselves at risk.
Crossing traffic suspended
Mazen Alloush, director of public relations at the General Authority for Land and Sea Ports and Customs, said the closure would remain temporary until the situation was confirmed stable and was intended to protect travelers’ safety.
Alloush said the crossing is designated exclusively for civilian travel and is not used for any military purposes. He added that there are no armed groups or militias at the crossing, and that it is not permitted to be used for any activity outside civilian and legal frameworks.
At the same time, the ports authority announced that the al-Jousieh border crossing remained available for travelers who urgently needed to reach Lebanon, especially those with flight bookings through Beirut airport.
This comes amid military escalation in Lebanon and security warnings, as displacement and cross-border movement into Syria have increased in recent weeks.
Passenger movement through the al-Masnaa crossing in both directions was also suspended on April 4, according to a statement at the time by Mazen Alloush.
That followed a warning sent to the crossing from the Lebanese side calling for evacuation, due to the possibility that the area could be shelled by Israel.
War and displacement
The military escalation in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, ongoing since March 2, has caused a large number of casualties, in addition to displacement across several Lebanese areas involving thousands of Syrians.
The United Nations said that more than 200,000 people had crossed from Lebanon into Syria through the three official border crossings as a result of the military escalation.
Syrians make up the vast majority of that number, at around 180,000 people. They include Syrian refugees who had previously fled Syria seeking safety in Lebanon and are now being forced to flee once again, as well as Syrians who had long considered returning home, according to a statement published by the UN refugee agency.
More than 28,000 Lebanese have also crossed into Syria, most of them fleeing intense Israeli bombardment, according to the statement published by the agency on March 31, which described them as “arriving exhausted and traumatized, with little more than the clothes they are wearing.”
Most crossing movements have been concentrated through the al-Masnaa, Jdeidet Yabous and al-Qaa, al-Jousieh crossings, both of which operate around the clock. The al-Arida crossing, on the Syrian side, was also reopened on March 7, but it remains limited to pedestrians only because one of the bridges was damaged.
The number of arrivals peaked in early March, particularly among families coming from Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon.
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