LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic said on Wednesday it had foiled a smuggling attempt along the Lebanese border in the Damascus countryside, seizing two vehicles and their cargo after an exchange of gunfire.

The smugglers opened fire on a patrol in the Jurd Al-Maarra area of Yabroud, prompting Syria’s border guards to return fire, the Defense Ministry’s media and communications department told the Syrian Arab News Agency.

Border guards arrested one smuggler, while the others fled toward Lebanese territory, the department said.

The ministry did not specify what the vehicles were carrying.

Since the fall of longtime President Bashar Assad in late 2024, Lebanon and Syria have worked to curb smuggling across their shared border of 330 km, including the trafficking in weapons and the drug captagon.