Israel strikes Beirut-Damascus highway after killing Hezbollah operative in Syria

Military says it assassinated the head of the group's financial division and will not allow the militants to 'regroup and rearm'

Syrian security forces inspect the site of Monday's air strike on a car in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus. Photo: EPA

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An Israeli air strike destroyed a section of the main highway linking Syria and Lebanon on Tuesday, transport sources said, in the latest attack on areas widely regarded as supply lines for Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The bombing near the Masnaa border crossing took place hours after the Israeli army said it had killed the head of Hezbollah’s financial division in another strike in Syria. Hezbollah loyalists confirmed that Ali Al Gharib was killed in a drone attack on a car on Monday in the western Mazzeh district of Damascus.

Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since the Iran-backed militants started firing rockets a year ago at northern Israel in support of Hamas, another militant group supported by Tehran. Hamas has been fighting for survival in Gaza since launching a surprise attack on Israel on October 7 last year.

The Israeli raid on Tuesday destroyed part of the Beirut-Damascus highway in a section of no-man's-land between the two countries, managers at two transport companies in Amman said. “Most traffic had been diverted anyway," one told The National.

Earlier this month an Israeli raid destroyed another section of the highway, hampering the movement of people fleeing the war in Lebanon for Syrian areas under the control of Damascus.

The manager said most road traffic had since been using the longer Dabbousiyeh crossing. It links the Syrian governorate of Homs with an area in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley that is a stronghold of Hezbollah.

Since eliminating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September, Israel has stepped up attacks in Lebanon and Syria. Security officials in the Middle East say the attacks have not only been targeting top commanders in Hezbollah but also operatives crucial to the flows of weapons and money to the group from Iran through Syria.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since late 2011, when Hezbollah and Iran began massively expanding their presence in the country.

A military figure in Syria's political opposition to President Bashar Al Assad said Israel has been constantly monitoring the Beirut-Damascus highway and other roads in an effort to pinpoint Hezbollah operatives and other people linked to the group.

"An arms convoy or specific Hezbollah personnel that Israel is after could have been on the highway last night," the source said.

From the Lebanese border to Damascus is only 40km, with the highway ending in the Mazzeh district.

Mazzeh was the scene of an attack by a guided missile fired from a drone at a car on Monday that purportedly killed Mr Al Gharib. Syrian state media said the strike by Israel killed two civilians, without mentioning anyone else.

Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel's forces eliminated the head of Hezbollah's financial division in a "precise strike" in Syria on Monday. He did not name the exact location or say whether the person killed was Mr Al Gharib.

Admiral Hagari said the Israeli military "will not allow Hezbollah to regroup and rearm".