diff --git a/internal/backend/sftp/sftp.go b/internal/backend/sftp/sftp.go
index b0758dcf3..fc2de79d8 100644
--- a/internal/backend/sftp/sftp.go
+++ b/internal/backend/sftp/sftp.go
@@ -189,8 +189,11 @@ func buildSSHCommand(cfg Config) (cmd string, args []string, err error) {
 
 	cmd = "ssh"
 
-	if cfg.Port != "" {
-		args = append(args, "-p", cfg.Port)
+	host, port := cfg.Host, cfg.Port
+
+	args = []string{host}
+	if port != "" {
+		args = append(args, "-p", port)
 	}
 	if cfg.User != "" {
 		args = append(args, "-l")
@@ -198,8 +201,6 @@ func buildSSHCommand(cfg Config) (cmd string, args []string, err error) {
 	}
 	args = append(args, "-s")
 	args = append(args, "sftp")
-
-	args = append(args, "--", cfg.Host)
 	return cmd, args, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/backend/sftp/sshcmd_test.go b/internal/backend/sftp/sshcmd_test.go
index 63d926a37..822f28b5d 100644
--- a/internal/backend/sftp/sshcmd_test.go
+++ b/internal/backend/sftp/sshcmd_test.go
@@ -13,34 +13,34 @@ var sshcmdTests = []struct {
 	{
 		Config{User: "user", Host: "host", Path: "dir/subdir"},
 		"ssh",
-		[]string{"-l", "user", "-s", "sftp", "--", "host"},
+		[]string{"host", "-l", "user", "-s", "sftp"},
 	},
 	{
 		Config{Host: "host", Path: "dir/subdir"},
 		"ssh",
-		[]string{"-s", "sftp", "--", "host"},
+		[]string{"host", "-s", "sftp"},
 	},
 	{
 		Config{Host: "host", Port: "10022", Path: "/dir/subdir"},
 		"ssh",
-		[]string{"-p", "10022", "-s", "sftp", "--", "host"},
+		[]string{"host", "-p", "10022", "-s", "sftp"},
 	},
 	{
 		Config{User: "user", Host: "host", Port: "10022", Path: "/dir/subdir"},
 		"ssh",
-		[]string{"-p", "10022", "-l", "user", "-s", "sftp", "--", "host"},
+		[]string{"host", "-p", "10022", "-l", "user", "-s", "sftp"},
 	},
 	{
 		// IPv6 address.
 		Config{User: "user", Host: "::1", Path: "dir"},
 		"ssh",
-		[]string{"-l", "user", "-s", "sftp", "--", "::1"},
+		[]string{"::1", "-l", "user", "-s", "sftp"},
 	},
 	{
 		// IPv6 address with zone and port.
 		Config{User: "user", Host: "::1%lo0", Port: "22", Path: "dir"},
 		"ssh",
-		[]string{"-p", "22", "-l", "user", "-s", "sftp", "--", "::1%lo0"},
+		[]string{"::1%lo0", "-p", "22", "-l", "user", "-s", "sftp"},
 	},
 }