Syria’s Crackdown on Hezbollah Opens a Door to Cooperation With Israel

Syria has long functioned as Hezbollah’s strategic depth — a corridor for the group’s weapons and a launchpad for attacks against Israel, with Hezbollah embedding networks there during the rule of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Although the regime has since fallen, those networks have not disappeared. Hezbollah-linked cells continue to operate inside Syria, but the new leadership in Damascus has begun to push back.

On April 19, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced it had “thwarted a sabotage plot orchestrated by a cell linked to the terrorist Hezbollah militia” in Quneitra province. The cell deliberately disguised a civilian transport vehicle to conceal missile-launching equipment for a surprise attack, presumably against Israel. The slogan “victory for our brothers in Lebanon and Palestine” was written on the rockets.

Syria’s new leadership lacks the means to completely clamp down on Hezbollah’s activities, allowing the group to retain cells in Syrian territory capable of striking Israel while affording it plausible deniability. But Damascus has been demonstrating a consistent willingness to counter Hezbollah on its soil, providing an opportunity to expand security coordination with Israel against this shared enemy.

Local Cells in Syria Enable Hezbollah To Claim Plausible Deniability

At its peak in 2017, Hezbollah — which entered the Syrian civil war in support of Assad’s regime — maintained roughly 7,000-10,000 fighters in Syria. While most were Lebanese, the group also recruited Syrians, including units such as the “Golan File,” positioned in southern Syria near the Golan Heights to target Israel. When Hezbollah operated openly in Syria prior to Assad’s downfall in December 2024, several projectiles targeting Israel originated from southern Syria.

Most of Hezbollah’s Lebanese fighters withdrew from Syria after the Assad regime’s fall, but Hezbollah’s local networks remained.

Front groups, such as the Islamic Resistance in Syria — which have claimed attacks from southern Syria since the regime’s collapse — are likely extensions of these local cells. Their purpose is to exploit the current instability in southern Syria to sustain pressure on Israel.

Hezbollah Counters Syria’s National Interest

Damascus has a clear interest in curbing Hezbollah’s activity. Internally, Syrian authorities recognize that Hezbollah thrives on instability and is therefore likely to fuel it in Syria to maintain its influence and preserve its weapons and cash-smuggling corridors.

Exploiting the inability of Syrian authorities to fully control their territory, Hezbollah-linked financial networks continue to operate in Syria and have likely facilitated the flow of funds to Hezbollah in Lebanon. An Iraqi official has claimed that Iran relies on smuggling networks composed of Assad loyalists to move money to Hezbollah through Syria, including during prior ceasefires, which enabled the group’s rearmament. And while Syrian authorities have uncovered smuggling tunnels and disrupted a plot to kill a rabbi in Damascus, border enforcement remains inconsistent, allowing weapons and resources to continue crossing into Lebanon.

Externally, the Syrians are trying to signal to the United States and Israel that Syrian territory will not be used to launch attacks against neighboring states — such as the one foiled on April 19 — which could invite retaliation on Syrian soil.

U.S. Should Encourage Israeli-Syrian Coordination

As a first step, the United States can leverage its goodwill with Syria, through sanctions relief, to press for a crackdown on Hezbollah’s remaining illicit networks in the country. Washington can then assist Damascus in drawing up a comprehensive security and financial strategy to finally and fully expel Hezbollah from Syria and prevent the group from using Syrian territory for its own ends.

This could include U.S. support to help Syria build its border-control capabilities. This could include surveillance technology but with strict end-user agreements in case the provision of those systems is abused, either to harm minorities or political dissidents or to endanger neighboring countries. The United States can also facilitate closer coordination between Syria and Israel to counter Hezbollah, especially — but not exclusively — in southern Syria.

David Daoud is senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) focused on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs. Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at FDD focused on Syria and Iranian intervention in Arab affairs and the Levant. For more analysis from the authors, please subscribe HERE. Follow David on X @Davidadaoud. Follow Ahmad on X @AhmadA_Sharawi. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.