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BEIRUT: A patrol from the Lebanese army and the Intelligence Directorate on Monday closed several smuggling routes in Masharih Al-Qaa, a region between Lebanon and Syria that lacks clearly defined borders.

A Lebanese military source said the area was used for smuggling goods, fuel and people and that the army head “erected dirt mounds and rocks to prevent the passage of vehicles and motorcycles.”

The border between Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic stretches about 375 km and runs through towns, villages and mountainous regions. The Lebanese government estimates there to be 136 illegal crossing points, of which more than half are in the Bekaa region.

A shortage of personnel and surveillance equipment means many of these areas are vulnerable to criminal activity, including human trafficking and the smuggling of weapons, drugs and other goods.

These open borders have served the interests of Hezbollah and Palestinian factions allied with Syria. Over the years, Hezbollah has established its own border crossings and helped protect others used by smugglers from its support base.

Palestinian factions also established their border posts, which served as channels for weapons and people. Dismantling them was the first task undertaken by the Lebanese army in implementing the policy of confining weapons to the hands of the state.

The army on Sunday denied claims made on social media that armed men had entered Lebanon from Syria via the eastern mountain range and that it had withdrawn from border areas in the Bekaa.

Military units “continue to carry out their routine missions to control the Lebanese-Syrian border, while also monitoring the internal security situation to prevent any breach,” it said.

It also appealed for “accuracy in reporting news related to the army and the security situation, to act responsibly and to refrain from spreading rumors that lead to tension among citizens.”

Since the regime change in Syria, several meetings between the two countries have been held to improve coordination on border security.

On March 28, Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart, Murhaf Abu Qasra, signed an agreement in Jeddah regarding border demarcation and the strengthening of security coordination. This came in the wake of violent clashes between the Syrian army and groups affiliated with Hezbollah along the border earlier in the month.

The issue of undefined borders dates back to the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, when France was granted the mandate over the two countries and drew the borders in a vague and incomplete manner. Some parts were demarcated in 1934, but large areas remained undefined. The Syrian regime later refused to officially recognize Lebanon as an independent state and considered it part of “Greater Syria.”

Kuwait expresses solidarity

On Monday, the Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah met Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

He said that Lebanon “will remain Lebanon” and that the “arms issue will be resolved soon.”

He also affirmed Kuwait’s support for Lebanon “in all areas, especially security cooperation” and called for activating the work of the Kuwaiti-Lebanese Higher Joint Committee to explore avenues for assisting Lebanon.

The president’s media office said Aoun told the Kuwaiti minister of the “importance of coordination to address common challenges, particularly in terms of security cooperation to combat drug smuggling and anything that threatens security in both countries.”

IRBIL: A man was killed in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region late Sunday during protests against power cuts, residents and a medical source told AFP.
Residents in the Rawandz region, northeast of Kurdistan’s capital Irbil, said protesters had taken to the streets and blocked a main highway leading to a border crossing with Iran.
Security forces intervened to open the road, leading to clashes, they said, with the demonstrations ending shortly after.
A source at the area’s Ashti hospital said “the body of a man who was killed by gunshot arrived at the hospital,” with locals saying he was involved in the protests.
The circumstances around the shooting were not immediately known, but a protester told AFP that “security forces shot” his relative, a 45-year-old father of 10.
The region’s interior ministry also said on Monday that “clashes during the protest” had resulted in one civilian death, adding it would launch a probe into the incident.
The northern region of Kurdistan has long promoted itself as a haven of relative stability in an otherwise volatile Iraq.
Last week, regional authorities announced that more than 30 percent of the Kurdistan region now had 24-hour, state-provided electricity.
However, vast areas still suffer from long power cuts, forcing many households to rely on private generators.
Despite Iraq’s abundant oil and gas reserves, years of conflict have devastated its infrastructure.
The national grid struggles to meet demand, leaving most areas reliant on imported energy — mostly from neighboring Iran — and subject to frequent power cuts, especially during the blistering summer.