Aoun and al-Sharaa seek to calm border clashes

President Joseph Aoun and Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa discussed fighting that has broken out on the border between the two countries “and agreed to coordinate to control the situation and prevent targeting civilians,” Aoun’s office said in a statement.

Clashes have been ongoing for three days between Syrian security forces and Lebanese clans in the border area.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that “a number of dead and wounded” had fallen in gunbattles near the Lebanese city of Hermel -- on Lebanon’s far eastern border -- and said that Syrian militants had tried to enter Lebanese villages.

It was unclear what militant groups the report was referring to. Syria’s new government is run by former Islamist rebels, and many members of the security forces are likely drawn from the ex-insurgents’ ranks.

On Thursday, two members of Syria’s border security force were “kidnapped by a group of wanted people involved in smuggling weapons and contraband,” according to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, although they were freed later the same day.