Israel uncovers major gun smuggling attempt on Lebanese border

Israeli forces are investigating whether Iran-backed Hezbollah was involved

A man rides a motorbike in Adaisseh village, near the Lebanese-Israeli border

The Israeli army on Saturday claimed to have uncovered guns worth close to a million dollars in what it described as the largest weapons smuggling attempt from Lebanon into Israel in the last few years.

It is investigating whether Hezbollah was involved.

Israeli army spokesman Lt Col Avichay Adraee said the 43 weapons were seized overnight in the region of Ghajar, a village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The finds took place after Israeli forces “spotted suspects transporting bags from Lebanon into Israeli territory ... through covert and overt means”, he said.

Lt Col Adraee did not give further details on the suspects or their whereabouts.

The guns are worth 2.7m shekels, Israel said, a little more than $800,000.

A representative for Hezbollah in Beirut was not immediately available for comment.

Last week, the Israeli military claimed that a former security adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, called Hajj Khalil Harb, was involved in "smuggling drugs and weapons across the border with Israel”.

Israeli media reported that Harb, 63, was linked to a raid in early June in involving weapons and hashish.

The US, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, has offered up to $5m as a reward for information on Harb.

Hezbollah operates both as a political party in Lebanon and as a powerful private regional militia. The last full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel killed more than 1,000 Lebanese – mostly civilians – in the summer of 2006, as well as 55 Israelis, including 12 soldiers.