Reports: Two Lebanese slaughtered after being abducted by Syrian forces

Lebanese young men M. N. M. and A. N. M. were killed after being abducted by Syrian general security forces from their home in the al-Fadliyeh area in Lebanese territory, Annahar newspaper reported on Monday.

“Their bodies were found in the al-Sadd-Matraba area on Syria’s border after their throats were slit,” the daily added.

The incident comes after three Syrian soldiers were killed in clashes with Lebanese gunmen on the border.

The Lebanese and Syrian armies said they are communicating with each other to ease tensions. Lebanese troops have been deployed in large numbers in the area. Families in the border areas fled toward safer regions amid the overnight clashes and shelling.

Syria’s interim government has accused militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah of crossing northeastern Lebanon into Syria on Saturday, kidnapping three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil.

Hezbollah in a statement denied any involvement, as reports said Lebanese clans or smugglers were involved in the fighting.

Syrian state media, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official, said the Syrian army shelled “Hezbollah gatherings that killed the Syrian soldiers" along the border.

Though the clashes largely calmed before sunrise, Lebanese media reported low-level fighting at dawn after an attack on a Syrian military vehicle.

The number of casualties remains unclear.

The Lebanese military said it delivered the bodies of the three killed soldiers to their Syrian counterparts. Media reports meanwhile said that one of the soldiers was “stoned to death.”