BEIRUT: Syrian troops exchanged fire with Lebanese soldiers and armed groups in northeast Lebanon overnight and into Monday in a new round of clashes along the border.

The mountainous frontier has been a flashpoint in the three months since religious fighters toppled Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and installed their own institutions and army.

Late on Sunday, Syria’s defence ministry accused Hezbollah of crossing into Syrian territory and kidnapping and killing three members of Syria’s new army. Hezbollah denied any involvement.

A Lebanese security source said 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. In retaliation for their deaths, Syrian troops shelled Lebanese border towns overnight, according to the Syrian defence ministry and the Lebanese army.

A Lebanese child was killed during the clashes while six people were injured, according to a statement by the Lebanese government on Monday. Residents of the town of Al-Qasr, less than one kilometre from the border, said they fled further inland to escape the bombardment.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he ordered the army to respond to sources of fire from northern and eastern borders with Syria, according to a statement by his office. Aoun said the state would not allow clashes along the border to continue.

The Lebanese government said it had ordered relevant ministers to coordinate stricter controls on the border with Syrian authorities. Lebanon’s army said in a statement 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.

Syria’s army sent a convoy of troops and several tanks to the frontier on Monday, according to a reporter along the border. Syrian troops fired into the air as they moved through towns on the way to the border.

“Large military reinforcements were brought in to reinforce positions along the Syrian-Lebanese border and prevent any breaches in the coming days,” said Maher Ziwani, the head of a Syrian army division deploying to the border.

Presidential order

“What is happening on the eastern and northeastern borders cannot continue,” Aoun said in a post on X. The army announced it had undertaken “exceptional security measures and intensive communications” since Sunday night that had led to the return of the three Syrian soldiers’ bodies to authorities there.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025