Lebanese Fighters Killed in Syria as More Rockets Land in Hermel
At least one Hizbullah member was killed overnight in clashes with Syrian rebels on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon, a security source told Agence France Presse on Sunday.
"Clashes took place between a group of FSA (Free Syrian Army) and a group of Hizbullah members coming from Baalbek in a border area between the outskirts of Baalbek and Damascus province in Syria," the source said.
"One member of Hizbullah was killed along with several rebels," he said, without specifying how many rebels died.
The clashes took place in a mountainous region inside Syria between the Baalbek area, a Hizbullah stronghold, and Syria's Damascus province, where the border is often not clearly demarcated.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog, which has a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground in Syria, confirmed the clashes, but was unable to say how many people were killed.
Some reports have said there have been dozens of casualties on both sides and that the clashes had taken place inside Lebanese territories.
The clashes took place as least two rockets fired from Syria landed in Lebanon’s border area of Hermel on Sunday, security sources said.
The rockets hit the northeastern area of Hermel, a day after 18 rockets and mortars rounds from Syria slammed into the Baalbek region, the largest cross-border salvo to hit a Hizbullah stronghold since Syrian rebels threatened to retaliate for the group's armed support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Hizbullah stepped up its involvement in the Syrian war in mid-May by joining a regime offensive against the rebel-held Syrian town of Qusayr, about 10 kilometers from Lebanon.
The town has since become one of the war's major military and political flashpoints.
Lebanese sources also reported the death of a Hizbullah fighter near Zabadani, northwest of Damascus.
And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and family members said a Lebanese member of the al-Nusra Front was killed fighting Hizbullah members in the Qusayr area.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press, Naharnet
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