The United States denied Wednesday an Israeli claim that U.S.-supplied armored vehicles seen being operated by Hezbollah in Syria had been given to group by Lebanon's official army.

Last month, footage emerged of Hezbollah fighters operating M113 armored personnel carriers in Syria, where the militia -- blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization -- is fighting in support of Bashar Assad's regime.

Neither U.S. spokesman said where Hezbollah's M113s might have come from if not from the Lebanese army.

According to the Israeli official, Hezbollah has "about 8,000 people in Syria," estimating that 1,700 of its fighters have been killed there since the war began in 2011 .

Watchtowers built by the Lebanese army on the Israeli border were constructed according to Hezbollah instructions and the country's military and Iran-backed fighters conduct joint patrols, the Israeli official said.

...