Syria’s military said in a statement early on Tuesday morning in the Middle East that artillery shells fired from Lebanon had landed near a town about 20 miles west of Damascus, the capital. The Syrian military accused Hezbollah of targeting Syrian army positions in the area, and said military officials had observed Hezbollah reinforcements arriving along the Syrian-Lebanese border.
The Syrian army said it was closely monitoring developments and warned it would respond to any attack on its territory. It was the first such statement from the Syrian military amid the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and the Iranian retaliation across the Middle East that began late last month. Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group.
On Monday, Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Shara, called the escalation in the Middle East “an existential threat to the entire region,” Syria’s official news agency reported. He said that Syria has coordinated with countries in the region and strengthened defenses at its borders and said that Syria stands with Lebanon and his Lebanese counterpart, Joseph Aoun, who has called for Hezbollah to disarm.
Syria has been struggling to pick up after 14 years of civil war that ended with the ouster of its former president, Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The current president, al-Shara, led a revolution that felled the Assad regime in the month after a truce went into effect that paused fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in late 2024. Instability at Syria’s borders represents a threat to the country, which has been rebuilding.
Ephrat Livni is a Times reporter covering breaking news around the world. She is based in Washington.
The post Shells Fired From Lebanon Land West of Syrian Capital, Country’s Military Says appeared first on New York Times.
