The Lebanese Jaafar clan, involved in recent days in clashes with the Syrian security forces, in Hermel (northern Bekaa), released a video on Sunday announcing they had withdrawn their men from the field and urging the Lebanese army and the state to handle the issue.

“To avoid any friction, we have withdrawn all of our brothers from the borders and moved them out of their villages” from the Syrian side to Lebanon, announced a clan member in a video shared and widely circulated on social networks. “But it served no purpose because our villages were attacked with heavy weapons from the Lebanese side. They were bombed, starting with al-Qasr (a village in the Hermel district),” he continued, emphasizing that “martyrs” and injured people resulted from these attacks.

Call to the state and army

“We call on the state and the army to play their role and resolve the situation,” continued the man, who added that “the fraternal relations” between Syria and Lebanon and asserts that his clan “is in no way involved” in the incidents of the past few days.

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New clashes erupt between Lebanese clans and Syrian forces, Israeli attacks persist in southern Lebanon

The confrontations between the Lebanese clans and Syrian forces began on Friday in Syrian territory, in villages inhabited by Lebanese, and continued throughout the weekend, with exchanges of fire on both sides of the border. On Sunday, the fighting occurred between Joussieh and the Hermel countryside, with machine-gun fire. Several rockets and shells were notably fired from Syria into Lebanon, and two armed Syrian drones were downed in Jermesh, in Lebanese territory. The army heavily deployed in the area, bringing a precarious calm by evening.

Israel conducted strikes in the evening near the Qard al-Sabaa crossing point, in Hermel. Its army claimed to have attacked a tunnel, allegedly used by Hezbollah for smuggling weapons.