Syrian shelling wounds 2 Lebanese near the northern border

Syrian shelling wounded two Lebanese near the border in the north at dawn Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported, in the latest incident on the increasingly tense Lebanese-Syrian frontier. Seven artillery shells slammed into the outskirts of the town of Khirbit Dawoud in Akkar, about six kilometers from Lebanon’s northern border with Syria, causing panic among local residents and prompting many of them to leave their homes to safer areas, the NNA said. Mahmoud Abdel-Majeed, head of Khirbit Dawoud municipality, said a woman, identified as Maram al-Zoueibi, was wounded by shrapnel of Syrian artillery shells that hit a number of houses in the area. She was taken to a hospital in the town of Qbaiyat. Abdel-Majeed said Tayssir Mereb was also slightly wounded by shrapnel and was treated. He called on the Lebanese government “to shoulder its responsibility toward the big dangers arising from such violations.” He also urged the government to instruct the Lebanese Army to protect citizens from “repeated [Syrian] attacks.” Last month, Lebanon and Syria exchanged memos protesting against border incursions and violations of each country’s sovereignty. The Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali received a Lebanese memo last month that calls on the Syrian authorities to avoid a repeat of incursions into Lebanese territory. Ali returned the favor and objected to the Lebanese violations in a separate memo the same day. In the latest border violation incident last month, some 30 Syrian army soldiers crossed into the Masharih al-Qaa village of Al- Joura, which is on the Lebanese side of the border crossing. They came some 500 meters into the country and raided homes. One man was wounded in the exchange, a house was burned down, and several other homes were damaged. Last month, the Lebanese Army deployed troops in north Lebanon as well as the northern and eastern border with Syria following a spate of deadly incidents along the shared border. Several Lebanese have been killed and wounded by gunfire as the Syrian army fought anti-regime armed groups in border areas in recent months. The military deployment in the north and the east of the country was in line with a government decision aimed at protecting citizens following repeated Syrian incursions into Lebanese territory. From DailyStar