REPORT: Tension prevails over Wadi Khaled town, Syria closes border crossing

Tension prevailed Thursday over the Lebanese town of al-Bekayaa in Wadi Khaled, which has been a target for Syrian gunfire and rocket shelling.

Reports said that the houses of Jassem al-Buhairi and Ahmad al-Satem have burned, while a mosque in the town of Bani Sakher sustained damages.

Accordingly, the residents called on the Lebanese army and the concerned authorities to intervene and protect the Lebanese citizens and help the injured Syrians and Syrian families trapped at the borders due to the heavy gunfire.

Meanwhile, security sources told LBCI that the army imposed a siege on al-Bekayaa and arrested some gunmen who entered Wadi Khaled from the Syrian town of al-Hosn. 

This as Syrian authorities closed the al-Bekayaa legitimate crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

Earlier, the state-run National News Agency reported Thursday that Khat al-Petrol in Wadi Khaled was targeted by heavy gunfire and rocket shelling from the Syrian side, damaging several houses in the region.

At dawn, fierce clashes erupted at the Syrian bank of the Great River in the Syrian border region of al-Bekayaa, which overlooks the Lebanese town of al-Bekayaa in Wadi Khaled. As a result, Syrian shells landed on the river’s Lebanese banks.

The agency reported that around 40 Syrian injured were able to cross into the Lebanese territories, where Red Cross ambulances are transporting them to nearby hospitals for treatment.

For their part, officials from the Islamic Medical Association in Wadi Khaled expected that at least 100 injured Syrians will arrive to the Lebanese borders, noting that the number of ambulances transporting the wounded is not enough.

In turn, Lebanese Red Cross Operations Director George Kettaneh said that 45 injured Syrian nationals have crossed into Wadi Khaled so far and taken to nearby hospitals.

Elsewhere, residents blocked the Tripoli-Akkar international highway with trucks and prevented commuters from passing, in protests against attacks targeting Wadi Khaled and border regions.


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