The arms smuggling highway from Syria to Lebanon for Hezbollah continues at varying intensity. On December 2, Syrian Internal Security Forces thwarted a smuggling attempt that included 1,250 mines. The smuggling cell consisted of five smugglers. The area where the smuggling was foiled is the Yabroud region in the Qalamoun Mountains, located on the border with Lebanon (east of Baalbek).
The mines were stored at an intermediate site in the town of Al-Jobea. Toour assessment, from there the shipment was intended to be transferred southwest, a distance of about 8 kilometres, to the town of Asal al-Ward. Asal al-Ward serves as a geographic anchor leading to three well-known smuggling routes into Lebanon toward the area of the Lebanese town of Tfail: via Wadi Arabia, Aqabat Saleh, and Jard Sha’abat al-Jawz. Creating a smuggling route along the #Syria–#Lebanon border is not a complicated matter. For every route that is closed, another one opens.
Along the roughly 400-kilometer border, there is an informal crossing point on average every three kilometres, through which almost anything can be smuggled. Hezbollah operatives responsible for arms deals and procurement are well aware of this, and in exchange for money they succeed in recruiting weapons suppliers and smuggling platforms inside Syria
