DAMASCUS — Syria's interior ministry said Sunday that security forces thwarted an alleged cross-border attack from the country's territory planned by remnants of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad and cells linked to Iran-backed Hizbollah.

 

From March 2 until a 10-day ceasefire went into force on April 17, Hizbollah was battling Israel after drawing Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire aimed at Israel in support of Tehran.

 

In a statement, the interior ministry said security forces "arrested members of a sabotage cell" linked to Hizbollah and Assad remnants.

 

The ministry said the cell "was working to carry out an attack from inside Syrian territory on targets outside the borders" from Quneitra province, which borders Israel.

 

Syria's official SANA news agency, quoting an interior ministry source, said Hizbollah "intended to launch missiles across the border with the aim of destabilising the country".

 

Syrian authorities are hostile to Hizbollah as the group played a key role in Syria's civil war that ended in 2024, fighting alongside the forces of now ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

 

The ministry said the Quneitra incident was the latest among "several attempts to destabilise the country and undermine public security" involving remnants of the former regime and unscrupulous individuals linked to Hizbollah".

 

Last week, Damascus accused Hizbollah of being linked to a cell that attempted to plant an explosive device in front of a house belonging to an unidentified religious figure in the Bab Tuma area of the Syrian capital.

 

But the group denied the ministry's claims last week, saying they were "false and fabricated".

 

Hizbollah said it has "no activity, no ties and no relationship with any party in Syria, and has no presence on Syrian soil".

 

The group called on Syrian authorities "to conduct a thorough investigation before making accusations without evidence".

 

It blamed "the presence of intelligence services" on Syrian soil that it said were "seeking to inflame tensions between Lebanon and Syria".

 

In February, Syria said it had dismantled a cell responsible for recent attacks targeting Damascus's Mazzeh district, claiming the weapons came from Hizbollah, which denied any involvement.

 

Under Assad, Syria was part of Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel and enabled the transfer of weapons and money from Iran to Hizbollah.

 

But since taking over, Syria's Islamist authorities have rejected Iranian influence.