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Iran has thwarted a potential Syrian military intervention against Hezbollah in Lebanon that was being prepared at the request of the United States, UNews reported on August 13.
Hezbollah fought in support of Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad for years to maintain its main supply routes, which put the group at odds with the Islamist rebels who eventually took over the country.
Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump has been suggesting that Syria should take on Hezbollah, saying President Ahmed al-Sharaa “would be more precise than Israel” in confronting the group and would do so without “knocking down buildings.”
In a series of posts on Telegram, citing sources and information circulating on the matter, the news website said Iran delivered a direct warning to Damascus that any Syrian military intervention in Lebanon would be met by the activation of multiple fronts inside Syria and along its borders.
The warning included threats to stir the Syrian-Iraqi border, open a line of confrontation in Homs, support Alawite insurgents on the Syrian coast, and encourage Kurdish forces to return militarily to the outskirts of Aleppo.
The warning was not directed at Damascus alone, according to the website, which is known to have ties with Hezbollah. It said the warning reached Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, carrying the message that any Syrian move against Hezbollah in Lebanon would not stay confined to Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, a stronghold of the group, but could turn into a broad regional confrontation inside Syrian territory.
UNews added that Iran succeeded in turning any potential Syrian intervention in Lebanon from a military option that could be marketed to the United States into a “high-cost regional gamble.”
The scenario, promoted by figures linked to the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, called for bringing armed Syrian units in through the Masnaa border crossing toward Chtaura in the Beqaa Valley and on to the city of Zahle, alongside a separate advance from the eastern highlands toward Baalbek, the news website reported.
The plan laid out in the report also envisioned declaring the city of Tripoli a zone of Syrian influence, with advancing forces drawing on local environments, particularly in some Sunni-majority areas.
The presumed goal of the military operation was to strike Hezbollah’s rocket infrastructure in the Beqaa Valley and generate military and political pressure to force the group into retreat or acceptance of new security arrangements, UNews said.
The Iranian warning reportedly prompted regional parties to reassess the cost of the scenario, particularly since Syria, still emerging from deep military and political upheaval, does not appear able to absorb a new internal war.
According to UNews, the Iranian warning that reached Damascus through Turkish channels included a threat of Iranian missile strikes beginning in Damascus. The first strike alone would hit more than 100 strategic targets, foremost among them the Syrian presidential palace.
In addition, Iraqi intelligence chief Hamid al-Shatri traveled to Damascus and told Syrian officials that Baghdad rejects any Syrian military expansion into Lebanese territory, according to the report.
Al-Shatri warned that Iraqi armed factions from the Popular Mobilization Forces could enter Syrian territory if an intervention against Hezbollah were to take place, the news website said.
The United Arab Emirates was described in the report as enthusiastic about financing any Syrian military intervention against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with officials there reportedly prepared to cover troop salaries as well as fund combat operations.
Qatar rejected such a move, according to the report, which noted that Saudi Arabia didn’t object to an intervention carried out within arrangements that weaken Hezbollah without igniting a wider regional conflict.
UNews also revealed that Hezbollah is treating the information about a potential Syrian intervention with a high degree of seriousness and has taken precautionary measures in the Beqaa Valley in anticipation of any such move.
The group does not view the scenario as a standalone Syrian operation, but as part of broader U.S.-Israeli-regional pressure aimed at dismantling the “resistance structure” in Lebanon from the east, after Israel failed to achieve a decisive outcome in the south, the website said.
Sharaa has repeatedly said he has no interest in a military intervention in Lebanon and has signaled his own willingness to talk with Hezbollah.
Nevertheless, despite the official denial, Kan News reported last month that Sharaa has proposed military plans against Hezbollah that can be activated by Trump if needed. A Syrian security source even told the Israeli state broadcaster that “there’s a gap between what’s said publicly and what’s discussed behind closed doors.”
In addition, there have been credible reports of a Syrian military buildup along the border with Lebanon, mainly near the Beqaa Valley.
UNews’s report came just over a week after Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said he had no objection to meeting with Damascus. This was seen as a sign of de-escalation.
While there is little doubt that Sharaa and his main regional backers, Turkey and Qatar, are not enthusiastic about a military intervention against Hezbollah in Lebanon for a wide array of reasons, it is also almost certain that the Syrian president is not in a position to reject such a request from Trump. Thus, the threat of such an escalation will remain, at least until the war between the U.S. and Iran is officially over.
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