A man holds a Syrian revolution flag on Dec. 8, 2024, at the Masnaa border crossing in Lebanon, just hours after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEKAA — Tensions flared Tuesday night along the Lebanese-Syrian border in the Hermel region of northern Bekaa after two Lebanese teenagers were abducted inside Lebanese territory, according to L’Orient Today’s Bekaa correspondent.
The two young men, identified as Hussein Adi Kataya and Moujtaba Ali Zeaiter, were reportedly riding a motorcycle near the village of Hosh al-Sayed Ali — a locality straddling both countries but partly within Lebanon’s Hermel district — when they were seized by members of the new Syrian security forces, formerly known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
A few hours later, the two young men were handed over by Syrian forces to the Lebanese General Security.
The incident is the latest in a series of violent episodes along the porous border. In August, a resident of Hosh al-Sayed Ali was shot dead by unidentified assailants at his home. The village has frequently witnessed tensions, particularly since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024. The area remains a flashpoint amid unclear border demarcation and shifting power dynamics, with Hezbollah and local Shiite clans losing influence over the area and as far as neighboring Qoussair to the Sunni Islamist coalition now ruling Syria.
Reporting contributed by Sarah Abdallah.
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