Shells hit Syria as Sharaa backs effort to disarm Hezbollah

DAMASCUS

Syria said Iran-backed Hezbollah had fired artillery shells into its territory from Lebanon overnight, state media reported yesterday, after President Ahmed al-Sharaa declared his support in Beirut's effort to disarm Hezbollah.

Syrian army officials said artillery shells fired from Lebanon landed near the town of Serghaya, west of Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported.

The army accused Hezbollah of targeting Syrian army positions, telling the news agency it observed Hezbollah reinforcements at the Syrian-Lebanese border.

"The Syrian Arab Army will not tolerate any aggression targeting Syria," the army said in a statement to SANA.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during U.S.-Israeli strikes.

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have clashed in eastern Lebanon in recent days, and Israel has carried out strikes across Lebanon, including on the capital Beirut.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Hezbollah of working to "collapse" the state, while the head of the group's parliamentary bloc said it had "no other option... than the option of resistance."

Hezbollah provided military support to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by an Islamist coalition hostile to the pro-Iranian Shia movement.

Since then, its supply routes from Syria have been cut off, and Lebanese and Syrian authorities are trying to combat smuggling across the porous border between the two countries.