BEIRUT—More than a dozen Syrian rebels and one Hezbollah fighter were killed in the first clash between rebels and the Lebanese militant group on the Lebanese side of the border, raising fresh concerns that Syria's civil war is further embroiling its western neighbor.
The firefight took place on outskirts of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbak near the Syrian border, according to a Lebanese security official.
Security officials said the incident occurred in a contested area along the Lebanese-Syrian border. Hezbollah fighters killed the rebels in an ambush after finding them setting up rocket launchers in the area, the security officials said.
The National News Agency reported on Saturday that 16 rockets had fallen on the outskirts of Baalbak on Friday night. Precisely where they were launched from was unclear.
While several Lebanese television stations and Iran's Press TV reported the incident, Lebanon's state media made no mention of the clash.
Details remained unclear, but the incident raised alarm that Syria's battle had spilled over for the first time on to Lebanese territory.
Hezbollah, a Shiite Lebanese militant group, is closely allied with the Syrian regime, which is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Hezbollah has gradually escalated its involvement in the Syrian conflict over the past two years, at first dispatching advisers, and then quietly sending trained fighters to help forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In recent weeks the group has dramatically ramped up involvement in the fighting—and publicly declared full-throated support for the Syrian regime—as forces loyal to Mr. Assad attempt to wrest from rebel control the strategically critical town of Qusayr only a few miles from the Lebanese border.
More than 100 Hezbollah fighters have died in Qusayr so far, according to people familiar with Hezbollah activities in the area.
The largely Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels have their own backers among Lebanon's Sunni community, which has long had a tense relationship with Hezbollah.
Those dynamics have fanned concerns that the fighting inside Syria could easily spread into Lebanon. The fighting near Baalbak is the most clear-cut case so far of this happening. The firefight appears to have started when Hezbollah fighters came upon Syrian rebels setting up missile batteries probably similar to those used to fire the missiles that landed in Baalbak, a Hezbollah stronghold, the previous day.
Also on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported a recurrence of clashes in the northern city of Tripoli between an Alawite enclave known as Jabal Mohsen and a Sunni area known as Bab al-Tabbaneh. Sniper fire cut off the main international highway. There were no reports on casualties. The fighting broke several days of cease-fire after a weeks' long battle took more than two dozen lives.
03 Jun, 2013
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