While fighting on the Lebanon-Israel border has dropped since the Israeli troop withdrawal in 2000, the area remains tense and Hezbollah frequently targets Israeli troops in the disputed Chebaa Farms area. But attacks on Israelis also were blamed on radical Palestinian groups, who remains active in southern Lebanon.
The PFLP-GC's commander, Ahmed Jibril, whose group refuses to recognize Israel, has his headquarters in Damascus. But his group maintains military bases in Lebanon, where it is accused of taking orders from Syria in support of its policies in Lebanon.
Relations between the two Arab neighbors have been tense in recent months after the Syrian army withdrew from Lebanon after international pressure and street protests in Beirut in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
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