FSA Chief of Staff Reiterates Warning of Shelling Hizbullah Positions in Lebanon

The rebel Free Syrian Army on Wednesday threatened to shell positions of Hizbullah in Lebanon after accusing it of firing across the border into territory it controls.

"In the past week... Hizbullah has been shelling into villages around Qusayr from Lebanese territory, and that we cannot accept," General Selim Idriss, the FSA's chief of staff, told Agence France Presse on the phone, adding that the rebels have given Hizbullah a 48-hour deadline to stop the attacks.

"Hizbullah has long been sending combatants into Syria to fight alongside Bashar Assad's forces, and we just fight them on our territory," said Idriss.

"But what we cannot accept is that Hizbullah is abusing Lebanese sovereignty to shell Syrian territory and Free Syrian Army positions," said the rebel commander.

Specifically, he accused Hizbullah of shelling villages and rebel positions around the insurgent-held town of Qusayr, which is located in the central Syrian province of Homs.

Idriss said that Hizbullah had fired into villages around Qusayr from the border village of Zeita, a Hizbullah stronghold in the Bekaa valley of Lebanon.

"As soon as the ultimatum ends, we will start responding to the sources of fire," he said.

While fighters in the Qusayr area would fire back, Idriss also said the FSA would "mobilize fighters equipped with long-range weapons from other areas."

Three Lebanese Shiites have been killed in fighting in Syria, a Hizbullah official said Sunday, as the Syrian opposition accused the Lebanese group of intervening on the side of the regime.

He said they were acting in "self-defense,” without specifying if they were Hizbullah members.

Just hours earlier, the main bloc of the Syrian opposition accused the Damascus ally of having intervened "militarily" on the side of the regime, and warned this posed a threat to ties between neighbors Syria and Lebanon.

Hizbullah has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, though its leader Hasan Nasrallah acknowledged in October 2012 that party members had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as individuals and not under the group's direction.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three slain Lebanese were members of pro-regime militias who had been trained by Hizbullah.

Louay al-Meqdad, spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Free Syrian Army, has accused Hizbullah of shelling Syrian territory with artillery and rocket launchers from bases inside Lebanon.

Hizbullah and its allies in the ruling March 8 coalition back Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, but the March 14 opposition alliance supports the rebellion.

The Shiite party occasionally announces the death of one of its fighters killed "carrying out his jihadist duty," but without clarification.

In October 2012, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah acknowledged that party members had fought Syrian rebels, but said they were acting as individuals and not under the party's direction.

Nasrallah clarified that the Hizbullah fighters were killed while defending Lebanese-inhabited border towns inside Syria. He explained that there are 23 Syrian border towns and 12 farms that are inhabited by Lebanese residents of various religious beliefs, adding that around 30,000 Lebanese residents live in these towns.

“The residents of these towns took the decision to stay and defend themselves against the armed groups and did not engage in the battle between the regime and the opposition,” Hizbullah's leader added.

On Saturday, the Local Coordination Committees -- a grassroots network of activists on the ground in Syria -- reported fighting between rebels and members of Hizbullah around Qusayr.

It said they were trying to break into the rebel-held city, which has been under daily army bombardment for the past year.