Rockets Hurt Two in Hermel as Report Says Area was Targeted from Masharii al-Qaa
Four rockets fired from Syrian territory hit the outskirts of the Bekaa town of Hermel and the neighboring town of al-Qasr on Sunday, as a media report said the Bekaa border area of Masharii al-Qaa could be source of rocket fire.
Lebanon's National News Agency said two rockets landed near the Imam Sadr Educational Foundation as the Beirut-based, pan-Arab television al-Mayadeen said the salvo was fired from the positions of Syrian rebels in the Homs area of Qusayr.
Later on Sunday, NNA said a Lebanese man from the al-Jamal family and a Syrian woman were wounded when two rockets fired from Syria hit the outskirts of the town of al-Qasr in Hermel.
Five Grad 107-mm rockets landed on the southern entrance of Hermel on Saturday, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.
Information obtained by the daily said that the some reports have alleged that these rockets may have been fired from the border area of Masharii al-Qaa in Lebanon.
It said that official security authorities are investigating these claims.
An Nahar reported that some youths “transported the rockets to Masharii al-Qaa where they fired them at Hermel because of the Syrian rebels' limited mobility in the area due to Hizbullah's success in seizing control of the majority of Qusayr's countryside in Syria.”
The daily added that the party has been increasing its inspection of individuals in Masharii al-Qaa “out of fears that rockets may indeed be fired from the area towards Hermel.”
It is aided in its mission by Syrian regime forces that have taken control of the main hills in the region and border-crossings that were being used by the rebels.
The pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Sunday that rebel shelling of Hermel is aimed at pressuring Hizbullah to end its fighting in Syria and withdraw its fighters from Qusayr.
Lebanon has suffered a spillover of Syria's raging conflict, with frequent cross-border shelling targeting the north and the east of the country.
On Thursday, three shells hit Hermel and two others hit Masharii al-Qaa nearby, said Agence France Presse.
Qusayr has been a strategic boon to the rebels, who used it as a base from which to block the main road from Damascus to the coast, impeding military movement and supply chains, but Hizbullah and regime forces have made advances in the area, which was captured by the opposition over a year ago.
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