Syria arrests alleged Hezbollah cell near Golan

Syrian authorities announced Tuesday the arrest, in Daraa province in the country's south near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, of three members of a cell "affiliated with Hezbollah" that they said was planning attacks, including rocket launches.

Syria's new authorities are hostile to the Lebanese Shiite party, which fought alongside former President Bashar al-Assad's regime during the civil war. 

Syrian intelligence services and security forces "thwarted a sabotage plot in the Yarmuk basin in Daraa province and arrested a Hezbollah-affiliated cell composed of three individuals," Syrian state television reported, citing a statement from the internal security forces. 

The Yarmuk basin area, where state media has previously reported Israeli incursions and shelling, borders both the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights and Jordan.

The announcement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were "indications" that Israel's enemies could attempt attacks ahead of the country's legislative elections, scheduled for October 27. In recent weeks, Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz have issued repeated warnings to Iran and Hezbollah, promising retaliation in case of any attack.

Part of a recurring pattern

This is far from an isolated case. Syria's new authorities have repeatedly accused Hezbollah-linked cells of plotting attacks in recent months, including intercepted weapons shipments near the Iraqi border in July and in Tartous in August. Hezbollah has consistently denied these accusations, calling them "false and fabricated" and insisting it has no presence or activity inside Syria.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war in March by firing rockets at Israel, which responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. 

Since the fall of Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes inside Syria and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974. 

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war and later annexed the areas under its control, a move recognized only by the United States and Colombia.