[DAMASCUS] Syrian authorities announced that they had dismantled a cell they say was linked to Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah in the Yarmouk Basin area of western Daraa province, a significant security development given the area’s proximity to the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and its location in one of southern Syria’s most sensitive regions.
According to information obtained by The Media Line’s correspondent in Damascus, Syria’s General Intelligence Service carried out the operation in cooperation with Internal Security Forces. The forces dismantled the cell in the Yarmouk Basin, near the Golan, where repeated Israeli military incursions and movements have been reported in recent months.
The cell’s activities have not been disclosed, and it remains unclear how many people were detained or whether authorities seized weapons or equipment that could have been intended for operations in southern Syria or across the border.
The operation comes as the Yarmouk Basin continues to witness repeated Israeli military activity. During September, the area saw incursions, gunfire, searches and detentions in several villages and locations around Wadi al-Ruqqad, Jamla and Ma’ariya. On September 25, an Israeli force advanced through the Abu al-Ghaithar gate toward Wadi al-Ruqqad in the Yarmouk Basin.
The Yarmouk Basin lies within a highly complex security zone in western Daraa near the Golan, an area that during the Syrian war saw activity by armed groups and smuggling networks and has more recently become a focus of both Syrian security operations and increased Israeli incursions.
The announcement is also not the first involving cells that Damascus says are linked to Hezbollah. In May, Syrian authorities announced the dismantling of another cell allegedly connected to the group as part of security operations targeting networks accused of planning attacks inside Syria.
The latest development adds a new dimension because the alleged Hezbollah-linked activity has now surfaced in southern Syria, close to an area considered highly sensitive from an Israeli security perspective.
The operation also comes amid a major shift in Damascus’ relations with both Iran and Hezbollah since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government. For decades, Syria served as a key link in Iran’s regional network of influence and supply routes to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Syria’s new authorities, however, have repeatedly said the country will not be used as a sphere of influence or a corridor for military operations on behalf of outside actors.
The dismantling of an alleged Hezbollah-linked cell in the Yarmouk Basin is likely to raise questions over whether other networks are attempting to rebuild their presence in southern Syria and whether the operation is part of a broader campaign to prevent Hezbollah-linked groups from reestablishing activity near the Golan Heights.
