BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian troops exchanged fire with Lebanese soldiers and armed groups in northeast Lebanon overnight and into Monday in a new round of clashes along the two countries’ border.
Tensions along the mountainous frontier have been high in the months since Islamist rebels toppled Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and installed their own institutions and army.
Late on Sunday, Syria’s defence ministry accused Hezbollah of crossing into Syrian territory and kidnapping and killing three members of Syria’s new army.
Hezbollah denied any involvement. A Lebanese security source told Reuters the three Syrian soldiers had crossed into Lebanese territory first and were killed by armed members of a tribe in northeastern Lebanon who feared their town was under attack.
In retaliation for their deaths, Syrian troops shelled Lebanese border towns overnight, according to the Syrian defence ministry and the Lebanese army. Residents of the town of Al-Qasr, less than one kilometre from the border, told Reuters they fled further inland to escape the bombardment.
Lebanon’s army said in a statement on Monday that it had handed over the bodies of the three killed Syrians to Syrian authorities, and that it had responded to fire from Syrian territory and sent reinforcements to the border area.
Syria’s army sent a convoy of troops and several tanks to the frontier on Monday, according to a Reuters reporter along the border. Syrian troops fired into the air as they moved through towns on the way to the border.
“Large military reinforcements were brought in to reinforce positions along the Syrian-Lebanese border and prevent any breaches in the coming days,” said Maher Ziwani, the head of a Syrian army division deploying to the border.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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