Gas canisters and a burned vehicle on March 20, 2025, three days after clashes between Lebanese clans and Syrian forces in the Lebanese village of Qasr, near Hosh al-Sayyed Ali in Hermel. (Credit: Emmanuel Haddad/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Is Hosh al-Sayyed Ali a Lebanese village? Or a Syrian one? The village partly in northern Lebanon's Hermel district is split in two, straddling the albeit murky border line between the two countries. Its tenuous territorial position became a focus of attention again following renewed fighting last weekend between Lebanese Shiite clans and forces of the new Syrian authorities.Hostilities culminated in a standoff between the Lebanese Army and the Syrian army before a cease-fire was declared Monday evening, after which a video surfaced alleging the discovery of an operations room located in the village belonging to Assad loyalist forces and Hezbollah. L'Orient Today was unable to verify the video's veracity.Indicative of the confusion over jurisdiction of Hosh al-Sayyed Ali, it was only after meetings held the next day, Tuesday,...
Is Hosh al-Sayyed Ali a Lebanese village? Or a Syrian one? The village partly in northern Lebanon's Hermel district is split in two, straddling the albeit murky border line between the two countries. Its tenuous territorial position became a focus of attention again following renewed fighting last weekend between Lebanese Shiite clans and forces of the new Syrian authorities.Hostilities culminated in a standoff between the Lebanese Army and the Syrian army before a cease-fire was declared Monday evening, after which a video surfaced alleging the discovery of an operations room located in the village belonging to Assad loyalist forces and Hezbollah. L'Orient Today was unable to verify the video's veracity.Indicative of the confusion over jurisdiction of Hosh al-Sayyed Ali, it was only after meetings held the next day,...