Israeli Drone Strike on Vehicle Wounds Six Near Lebanon-Syria Border

An Israeli drone attack has wounded six people in Lebanon’s Hermel district, close to the Syrian border, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The ministry reported on Friday that the six wounded individuals included five Syrian nationals, two of them women, and one Lebanese. According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), the drone strike targeted a car in an area that has largely been spared such attacks since an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was agreed in June.

The Israeli military stated that it targeted “a Syrian terrorist” who “operated under the direction of the Iranian regime,” alleging that the man “planned and advanced attacks” against Israeli forces in Syria’s southern territory.

Since the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes against Syria. The military has deployed troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974, while also carrying out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory and sometimes seizing residents.

Israel has continued its attacks in Lebanon despite the June ceasefire with Hezbollah, vowing to maintain troops in security zones along its borders in both Syria and Lebanon.

Addressing the UN General Assembly last month, Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa stated, “We reject Israeli attempts to impose a fait accompli. We reject their aggressions, which undermine peace and security.” He reported that Israel had carried out “500 air strikes, more than 1,200 incursions and 300 detentions” in Syria, while calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory and international commitment to the 1974 agreement establishing a UN-supervised separation zone.