Israel media claims 40,000 fighters have arrived near the Golan Heights to support Hezbollah

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper yesterday claimed that 40,000 fighters from three Arab countries have arrived near the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, in preparation for the possibility of supporting Hezbollah in the current confrontations against the Israeli army.

Since Monday, the Israeli army has launched the “most violent and extensive” attack on Lebanon in nearly 20 years, killing 569 people, including 50 children and 94 women, in addition to wounding 1,835, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, air raid sirens continue to sound in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon after Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets at military sites and settlements, according to observers.

Quoting unnamed security sources, Haaretz added in a report that “Officials in the IDF [Israeli army] have followed with concern the roughly 40,000 militia fighters, mercenaries who came to Syria from a number of countries including Iraq, Yemen and Syria itself and are now in the vicinity of the Golan Heights, waiting for Nasrallah’s call to join the fighting.”

The sources added, “Granted that they’re not elite fighters, but the Nukhba Force aren’t either and nevertheless we saw what a force of 2,000 to 3,000 gunmen are capable of when they surprise and attack a community,” referring to the Hamas attack on 7 October.

“If the need arises, we will also act in Syria to make it clear to [President Bashar] Assad that we are no longer accepting their presence there,” the source added.

According to Yaniv Kubovich, the author of the Haaretz report, “Hezbollah has huge stockpiles of ammunition, and it can replenish them with relative ease, continuing to constitute a major threat to the Israeli home front.”

As of 21:00 GMT, there was no comment from Damascus, Hezbollah or Tel Aviv regarding the news report.

Israel has occupied territories in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine for decades.

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