Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 2, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Hezbollah is reportedly seeking to launch attacks against the Jewish state from Syrian territory in support of Iran while continuing operations along the Lebanese border, fueling fears the Middle East war is escalating and expanding across multiple fronts.

According to Israeli broadcaster Kan News, which cited Arab intelligence sources, the Syrian government has instructed its military forces to prevent any terrorist cells operating in Syria from launching attacks against Israel, amid Iran’s broader regional confrontation with Israel and the United States.

As Hezbollah vowed to support Iran in its broader confrontation with Israeli and American forces by targeting the Jewish state, Damascus has reportedly strengthened security controls in southern Syria, setting up checkpoints in an effort to prevent any cross-border attacks or terrorist operations from taking shape.

Although Iran and its terrorist proxies were expelled from Syria after the fall of long-time Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the new Syrian government under President Ahmed al‑Sharaa has continued to focus on dismantling the infrastructure that Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies built on the Syrian side of the border.

According to media reports, Damascus is also preparing to potentially target the positions of Hezbollah along the border in the Bekaa Valley, a region in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian border, in an effort to weaken the group’s operational infrastructure.

However, Syrian leadership has said it has no plans to conduct military operations against any neighboring country, reiterating that its military deployments are aimed strictly at securing borders and maintaining internal stability.

“But Syria is prepared to deal with any security threat to itself or its partners,” a security official told the Times of Israel.

As the war continues to escalate across the region, Syria has further strengthened its border with Lebanon by deploying thousands of troops, including infantry units, armored vehicles, and short-range rocket launchers, in an effort to curb arms and drug smuggling while preventing infiltration by Hezbollah or other terrorist groups.

After Hezbollah fired multiple rockets into Israeli territory in support of Iran earlier this week, the Jewish state launched a wave of airstrikes across southern and central Lebanon, striking sites linked to the group’s military infrastructure.

On Monday, the Israeli military said it killed the commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Lebanon, calling the operation a major blow to the Iran-backed terrorist group’s capabilities.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had authorized the military to advance and take control of additional positions in Lebanon, where Israeli troops have held several hilltops since a war with Hezbollah in 2024.

With dozens of people killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Hezbollah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group – the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.

The Lebanese government has even taken the unprecedented step of banning the military activities of Hezbollah. The pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar condemned the decision as a “capitulation to dictates,” warning that it could potentially spark the outbreak of civil war.