War monitor says two dead in Israel strike on Syria-Lebanon border village

Israel’s military confirmed a similar strike on the nearby Jousieh crossing less than a week earlier, claiming it was being used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons. (AFP)

• War monitor says bombed area lies on a smuggling and transportation route between Lebanon and Syria
• Attack comes less than a week after Israel’s military confirmed a similar strike on the nearby Jousieh crossing

DAMASCUS: A Syrian war monitor said Tuesday that two people were killed in an Israeli strike near Syria’s border with Lebanon, the second strike in less than a week near a key land crossing.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli warplanes “attacked vehicles near Al-Nazariya Village in Al-Qaseer countryside” along the border with Lebanon, adding that “two people inside the vehicles were killed.”
The NGO said the area lies on a smuggling and transportation route between Lebanon and Syria.
The attack comes less than a week after Israel’s military confirmed a similar strike on the nearby Jousieh crossing, claiming it was being used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons.
Lebanese and United Nations officials warned that strike had jeopardized the main escape route for people fleeing the conflict in Lebanon in search of refuge in Syria.
Israel had previously struck the Masnaa crossing further south, leaving it unusable.
Israel has been at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon since late last month, in a bid to secure its northern border after nearly a year of cross-border fire from the Iran-backed armed group.
Nearly 500,000 people have fled to Syria since Israel launched an intense air campaign mainly on Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon in late September, Lebanese official figures show.