Israeli strike closes off street used to flee Lebanon to Syria, Lebanese transport minister says

BEIRUT (Reuters) – An Israeli strike on Friday morning close to Lebanon’s Masnaa border crossing with Syria reduce off a street utilized by a whole lot of hundreds of individuals to flee Israeli bombardments in current days, Lebanon Transport Minister Ali Hamieh informed Reuters.

Hamieh mentioned the strike hit inside Lebanese territory close to the border crossing, making a four-metre (12 toes) extensive crater.

An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) army spokesman had accused Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Thursday of utilizing the crossing to move army gear into Lebanon.

“The IDF won’t permit the smuggling of those weapons and won’t hesitate to behave if pressured to take action, because it has performed all through this struggle,” IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee mentioned on X.

Hamieh had mentioned at a press convention on Thursday that the crossing was topic to the authority of the Lebanese state.

In line with Lebanese authorities statistics, greater than 300,000 folks – a overwhelming majority of them Syrian – had crossed from Lebanon into Syria over the past 10 days to flee escalating Israeli bombardment.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Enhancing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry)