An icy wind blows from the anti-Lebanon, rushing into the rocky valleys where the last snowflakes cling to the summits. Here, in the extreme northeast of Lebanon, the border with Syria is only an abstract line, a territory where dusty roads are used as much for shepherds as for smugglers. On the track leading to Al-Qasr, the border villages of Wadi Faara and Maaraboun seem frozen in a worried silence.
For several weeks, the atmosphere has been heavier than usual. The crash of automatic weapons has repeatedly broken the tranquility of these isolated lands. The recent operations of the Syrian forces against drug traffickers and arms smugglers have sparked a wave of tensions in the region. Influential clans, historically linked to Hezbollah, see their commercial roads threatened, and sporadic clashes along the border fear a climbing.
In the city center of the small town of Al-Qasr, the stigma of recent clashes are still visible. In a small coffee in the village, a wood stove tries to warm the ice air. Men, wrapped in heavy Kakis jackets, talk about recent events. One of them, an old farmer in the face chised by the wind and the sun, launches: “Hezbollah controlled this area and acted as master in the region to do its business. »» The porosity of the Lebano-Syrian border served the interests of the powerful Shiite party. However, this omnipotence is an ancient story. Since the fall of the Bashar el-Assad regime on December 8, the Pro-Iranian organization no longer benefits from this strategic and logistical depth allowing it to extend its influence and receive weapons by land from Tehran.
Indeed, since the beginning of February, the new Syrian authorities, deeply opposed to Hezbollah, have been carrying out operations in the neighboring areas to fight against the residues of the Shiite movement and put an end to their activities. Armed clashes have killed several sides. Damascus tries to oust the Lebanese clans, the Zeaïter, the Jaafar, the Noun, the Jamal and the Rachini, all close to the Party of God. It took an intervention by the President of the Lebanese Republic, Joseph Aoun, who entered into contact with his Syrian counterpart on February 15, Ahmad el-Chareh, and the Lebanese army routing important reinforcements along the border zone to calm the game.
In addition, the Syrian general security arrested several groups on February 19 “Involved in traffic and the sale of weapons in Hezbollah”in the Qoutayfa region, in the suburbs of Damascus.
“It was their kept hunt”
In the snowy village of Al-Qasr, an old flag of green and yellow Hezbollah floats in the distance. Not far from a checkpoint of the Lebanese army, we meet a soldier who agrees to confide under the cover of anonymity. “In this border region, it was their guarded hunt, they had their weapons covers, their warehouses, their factories, no one could approach less than 500 meters”, he explains to evoke the influence of the Shiite party. He explains that the movement “Has set up a sophisticated network extending to Syria and Iraq to sell drugs.”
In the large plains of the Bekaa, it is not uncommon to see whole fields of cannabis controlled by members of the Lebanese paramilitary group. But when the soldier evokes illicit substances, he above all refers to the Captagon. This amphetamine nicknamed the “drugs of jihadists”, is at the heart of a vast traffic connecting Syria and Lebanon. It allowed the Assad regime and its Hezbollah ally to generate billions of dollars by reselling the product to the four corners of the Middle East, while bypassing Western sanctions. The effects on the human body went from the loss of appetite, to the loss of fatigue through the absence of fear, hypervigilance and increased aggressiveness. The soldier explains that the Lebanese army’s objective is to get their hands on these different networks.
Cutting traditional routing roads is isolating Hezbollah a little more on the regional scene. It was the secretary general of Hezbollah Naïm Qassem who even admitted him in half-word during a speech last December. “Hezbollah loses (…) A military supply line via Syria, but this loss remains a detail in the context of resistance action ” in Israel, he said, adding that “Resistance must adapt to circumstances”.
Besides, the Lebanese soldier admits to us that the party of God is trying to reorganize “ By trying to contact new groups in Syria to continue your business ”. However, the Hebrew state regularly targets border crossing points to avoid resumption of traffic. Israeli aviation struck the Syro-Lebanese border on the night of February 20 to 21, at Lebanon-North and the Syrian province of Homs, claiming to have targeted illegal border passages there “Employed by Hezbollah” To bring weapons.
