BEIRUT, March 18. /TASS/. Fighting between the Syrian interim government’s security forces and rebels from Shia tribes has resumed in the borderline Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali district in northeastern Lebanon, with the shooting beginning despite the ceasefire reached between the two countries’ defense ministers.
Earlier, the command of the Lebanese army deployed reinforcements in this segment of the border to ensure the safety of civilians suffering from the ongoing military activity.
On March 17, the republic’s ministry of health said that the shelling of northeastern parts of Lebanon had led to casualties among civilians. According to it, seven people died and 52 were injured in border settlements over the past day.
Syria’s security forces were supposed to withdraw their formations from the Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali border district, where they were engaged in a mopping operation. Armed supporters of the Shia Hezbollah movement, who "were invading Syrian territory," according to Damascus, were earlier driven out of there.