Border clashes prompt Shia clans to leave Syria for Lebanon
Shia clans have announced their withdrawal from Syria to Lebanon following days of clashes with Syrian forces along the border.
Syria’s interim government, comprised mostly of members of former rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), started an “extensive campaign” in the Syrian border village of Hawik on Thursday.
The region, which is allegedly part of a smuggling route used by Hezbollah, the Lebanese movement that backed Syria's deposed government, is mostly inhabited by members of the Zaiter and Jaafar clans, who have Lebanese and Syrian members.
The clans engaged in heavy clashes with Syrian forces, who say they are cracking down on weapons and drug smuggling.
According to Lebanon's l’Orient Today, the clans involved in the clashes are the Zaiter, Jaafar, Noun, Jamal and Rachini families, Lebanese Shia families who have been living in the border areas for generations.
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“To avoid any friction, we withdrew our members to inside the Lebanese borders, displacing them from their villages, but that did not help us, as our towns inside Lebanon were attacked with heavy weaponry,” a member of the Jaafar clan said in a statement.
Strikes hit Lebanese territory over the past days, particularly in the northeastern Hermel region, killing several people, including at least one Syrian refugee.
Clans in the northern part of Lebanon's Beqaa Valley initially expressed “dismay” at the “total and unjustified abandonment” by the Lebanese state, which they claim prompted them to defend the country themselves.
On Friday, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun had a phone call with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in which the two leaders agreed to “coordinate efforts to control the situation and prevent attacks on civilians”.
The Lebanese army managed to restore calm temporarily on Saturday, though gunfire has resumed at a lesser intensity.
The Lebanese army said Aoun ordered military units to be deployed on the northern and eastern borders "to respond to the sources of fire launched from Syrian territory".
“These units began responding with appropriate weapons, against the backdrop of the recent clashes during which several Lebanese regions were subjected to shelling and gunfire.”
The situation on the Lebanese-Syrian border has been mired by sporadic clashes and bureaucratic hurdles since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on 8 December.
The first weeks after Assad's fall saw armed Syrian fighters clash with the Lebanese army at several points in the porous border between the two countries.
In response to the unstable situation, Syria's new authorities restricted the entry of Lebanese citizens into Syria, unless they had residency permits, were married to a Syrian or had special permission.
These rules were eased a little in January, with permits granted to Lebanese workers, students, medical patients and journalists if they have the right documentation.
Prior to these events, Lebanese people were able to freely enter Syria without a visa or passport by simply showing their national ID card.
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