Syrian troops overnight into Monday exchanged fire with Lebanese soldiers and armed groups in northeast Lebanon in a new round of clashes along the border.
The mountainous frontier is said to have been a flashpoint in the three months since Islamist rebels toppled Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and installed their own institutions and army.
Syria’s defence ministry late on Sunday accused Hezbollah of crossing into Syrian territory and kidnapping and killing three members of Syria’s new army, an allegation Hezbollah denied.
Lebanese security source said that the three Syrian soldiers had crossed into Lebanese territory first and were killed by armed members of a tribe in northeastern Lebanon who feared their town was under attack.
According to the Syrian defence ministry and the Lebanese army, in retaliation for their deaths, Syrian troops shelled Lebanese border towns overnight.
A statement by the Lebanese government said a Lebanese child was killed during the clashes while six people were injured.
The government said it had ordered relevant ministers to coordinate stricter controls on the border with Syrian authorities.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he ordered the army to respond to sources of fire from northern and eastern borders with Syria.
Aoun said the state would not allow clashes along the border to continue.
Lebanon’s army said in a statement on Monday that it had handed over the bodies of the three killed Syrians to Syrian authorities, and that it had responded to fire from Syrian territory and sent reinforcements to the border area.