Hezbollah denies its relationship with a cell in Syria, and a military escalation in Gaza and southern Lebanon

On Wednesday, Hezbollah denied any connection to a group that the Syrian authorities announced overnight its arrest near the Israeli-occupied Golan, and said it was planning to “carry out operations” without additional details.

The party stated in a statement: “Hezbollah’s media relations categorically denies any relationship or association of (Hezbollah) with the alleged cell,” reiterating its assertion that “it has no presence in Syrian territory, and has no connection to any security or military activity there,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

The Internal Security Forces announced in a statement on Tuesday night that the intelligence service, in cooperation with its units, foiled “a sabotage plan in the Yarmouk Basin in Daraa, and arrested a cell belonging to the (Hezbollah) militia, consisting of three people.”

It stated that the arrest came after “careful monitoring of the cell’s attempt to prepare missile launchers with the aim of launching attacks to destabilize security and stability.”

The Yarmouk Basin area, located in the western countryside of Daraa, is one of the areas that Israeli forces penetrate from time to time.

In its statement on Wednesday, the party called on the Syrian authorities to “be alert” to what it described as “attempts aimed at using the name (Hezbollah) in order to raise tension and sow discord between Lebanon and Syria... and to search for the real beneficiary of fueling tension between the two countries, which is the Israeli enemy, which is continuing its attacks on Syria and Lebanon.”

Hours before Syria announced the group's arrest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there were indications that Israel's enemies were trying to attack it before the elections scheduled for October 27.

After the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011, Hezbollah publicly announced in April 2013 to fight alongside Assad, whose country formed a major supply route to the party from Iran, its main supporter.

After the overthrow of Assad, the new authorities took a position against the party, and repeatedly announced the arrest of groups they said were linked to it in Syria, and the seizure of arms shipments heading to it, while the party denied any presence inside Syrian territory and any activity there.

The party's Secretary-General, Naeem Qassem, confirmed in early August that there was no objection to holding a "public meeting" with the new Syrian leadership.

This came after President Ahmed Al-Sharaa said during a television interview in June, in response to a question about the possibility of sitting with Hezbollah at one table, “If this matter is in the interest of Lebanon and secures Syrian interests, then why not?”

Health officials in Gaza announced that at least five Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli raids on the Palestinian Strip on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Medics said that an Israeli air strike targeted a vehicle, killing at least four people and wounding 14 others in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, while an air strike earlier targeted an apartment elsewhere in the city resulted in the death of a woman.

The Israeli army has not yet commented on either of the two raids.

Israel has escalated its attacks on the Hamas movement in the past few weeks, and says that the movement is re-arming itself and launching attacks, in violation of the ceasefire that was reached in October last year.

Hamas denied trying to launch any attacks or rebuild its arsenal, and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza agreement.

The ceasefire, which was reached last year through American mediation, provides for the eventual reconstruction of the Strip. But little progress was made, as negotiators failed to agree on the terms for the disarmament of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes continued.

Gaza health officials said that at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, while the Israeli army says four of its soldiers were killed in the same period.

The Palestinian authorities say that more than 73,000 people were killed as a result of the Israeli war on Gaza, which broke out following the killing of about 1,200 people in southern Israel by fighters led by Hamas in October 2023.

Four people, including a soldier, were injured on Wednesday as a result of the explosion of a “suspicious object” in southern Lebanon, according to what the Lebanese army explained in a statement, after it had announced that the injuries resulted from an Israeli strike targeting a military vehicle.

The army reported in a statement that “a soldier and three civilians were injured in the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area, as a result of an explosion while the army was accompanying residents to inspect their property in the area,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.

He added: “As a result of investigations and engineering examination, it was found that the incident resulted from the explosion of a suspicious object,” after the army had spoken in a previous statement about “an Israeli enemy targeting an army vehicle.”

Although a ceasefire has been in effect between Israel and Hezbollah since June 21, the region is subjected to repeated Israeli raids.

Lebanon entered the war on March 2 after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel, which it said were a response to the killing of Iranian guide Ali Khamenei in the first American and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

Israel responded with an intense campaign of raids and a ground incursion by its forces, which occupied dozens of towns and villages in southern Lebanon, and widespread bombing operations.

The pace of violence declined after the United States and Iran concluded a memorandum of understanding in June, and the Lebanese and Israeli governments signed, under American sponsorship, a framework agreement that stipulated the disarmament of Hezbollah, the gradual withdrawal of the Hebrew state from the lands it occupies in southern Lebanon, and the deployment of the Lebanese army, starting from “experimental” areas.

Accordingly, the army deployed in July in the western town of Zawtar after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from its outskirts, and its deployment was strengthened in the towns of Srifa and Faron. But no new areas were agreed upon.

Israel continues to launch attacks on southern Lebanon, and also carries out bombing and bombing operations in the towns it occupies. Hezbollah refused direct negotiations with Israel and surrendered its weapons, a position repeated by its Secretary-General Naim Qassem (Sunday).