IDF hits Hezbollah arms routes, top smuggler - JNS Staff

 

​ by JNS Staff

Muhammad Awasha, a key weapons dealer and smuggler, died near Sidon.

 

Smoke and sparks ascend from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in Al-Kfour village in Southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh District on Jan. 21, 2026. Photo by Rabih Daher/AFP via Getty Images.

 

The Israel Defense Forces struck four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon frontier used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons and killed a senior arms dealer for the Iranian terrorist proxy near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Wednesday, Israel’s military said.

The attacks on the border crossings took place in the mostly Shi’ite Hermel area along the Syria-Lebanon border.

⭕️OPERATIONAL UPDATE:

📍On the Syria-Lebanon Border, 4 border crossings used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons in the area of Hermel were struck.

📍 In the area of Sidon, the IDF struck and eliminated the terrorist Muhammad Awasha, a key Hezbollah weapons smuggler.

Awasha played… pic.twitter.com/R5FhhCKWXL

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 21, 2026

Earlier on Wednesday in the Sidon area, the IDF killed Muhammad Awasha, describing him as a key Hezbollah weapons dealer and smuggler.

Awasha managed weapons transfers to Hezbollah through a shell company that ordered prohibited goods from countries including Iraq, Syria and Gulf states, and oversaw many smugglers moving arms from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, the army said.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF said that it carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah infrastructure across several areas of Southern Lebanon, targeting weapons storage facilities and an underground arms depot embedded in the middle of civilian neighborhoods and used to turn residents into human shields.

“Hezbollah’s activities at these sites, intended to reestablish its capabilities, constitute a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and pose a threat to the State of Israel,” the IDF said, adding that it “will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel.”

JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/idf-hits-hezbollah-arms-routes-top-smuggler/

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