Army Takes Stronger Security Measures as Source Claims Border Crossings Controlled

The Lebanese army took stronger security measures and set up checkpoints in northeastern areas bordering Syria on Tuesday after heavy gunfire was heard on the other side of the border, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said Wednesday that gunfire was also heard between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm on the other side of North Lebanon’s al-Kabir river inside the Syrian al-Arida village where the Assad regime forces carried out raids in their crackdown on protestors.

Some bullets even reached the Lebanese side and damaged houses without causing casualties, it said.

An Nahar daily quoted a high-ranking security source as saying that the official crossings between Lebanon and Syria are well controlled by Lebanese armed forces.

Reports about arms smuggling between the two countries were exaggerated, the source said, denying a report by OTV that security forces had seized a truck carrying arms to Syria from Minieh in northern Lebanon.

The source also denied that Syrian authorities hadn’t provided any official information about Lebanese gunmen fighting alongside Syrian rebels.

Agence France Presse said Tuesday that a 29-year-old Lebanese, who goes by the name of al-Baghdadi, is "enlisted" in the Free Syrian Army.

He told the agency he was a sniper in Baghdad supporting former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the U.S.-led invasion of the country and returned to Lebanon after Saddam was ousted.

Pointing to a Christian comrade, he said in the Syrian rebellion religion "does not matter" and explained that he is fighting "the unjust regime of (President Bashar) Assad to protect Syrian children from death."

In their intense crackdown on protestors, Assad’s forces bombed on Tuesday al-Adra bridge used by refugees fleeing to Lebanon from the central province of Homs, cutting off a key escape route to evacuate the wounded.

The bridge lies in the Syrian Christian town of Rableh that lies six kilometers from Masharee al-Qaa.

An Nahar quoted a refugee as saying that four Syrian tanks bombed the bridge in an effort to limit the number of refugees escaping to Lebanon.