Fighting Erupts Along Lebanon-Syria Border after 3 Syrian Soldiers Killed
Fighting erupted along the border between Lebanon and Syria overnight into Monday, Syrian state media reported, after three Syrian soldiers were killed in earlier clashes in the village of Qasr.
The Lebanese and Syrian armies said they are communicating with each other to ease tensions. Lebanese troops have been deployed in large numbers in the area. Families in the border areas fled toward Hermel amid the overnight clashes and the Syrian shelling of homes in Qasr.
Syria’s interim government accused Hezbollah militants of crossing northeastern Lebanon into Syria on Saturday, kidnapping three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil.
The Lebanese military said Monday that it delivered the bodies of the three killed soldiers to their Syrian counterparts.
Hezbollah in a statement denied on Sunday any involvement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Shiite groups were involved.
Syrian state media, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official, said the Syrian army shelled “Hezbollah gatherings that killed the Syrian soldiers” along the border.
Though the clashes largely calmed before sunrise, Lebanese media reported low-level fighting at dawn after an attack on a Syrian military vehicle.
The number of casualties remains unclear.
