LEBANON: Heavy gunfire is heard coming from the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in the northern area of Wadi Khaled

Record ID: 279025

  • Title: LEBANON: Heavy gunfire is heard coming from the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in the northern area of Wadi Khaled
  • Date: 19th May 2011
  • Summary: WADI KHALED, LEBANON-SYRIA BORDER (MAY 18, 2011) (REUTERS) SYRIAN SIDE OF THE BORDER IN WAID KHALED AREA / SYRIAN SOLDIERS ON TOP OF A BUILDING MORE OF SOLDIERS/ AUDIO OF GUNFIRE VARIOUS OF THE SYRIAN SIDE OF THE BORDER / AUDIO OF GUNFIRE
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon
  • City:
  • Country: Lebanon Syrian Arab Republic
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9UGLVHIVE7NBMGHRE9WFE8726
  • Story Text: Gunfire was heard on Wednesday (May 18) coming from the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon in the northern area of Wadi Khaled, as tanks shelled a Syrian border town for the fourth day in a military campaign to crush demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad.
    Troops went into Tel Kelakh on Saturday (May 14), a day after a demonstration there demanded "the overthrow of the regime".
    Assad had been partly rehabilitated in the West over the last three years but the United States and European Union has condemned his use of force to quell unrest and warned they plan further steps after imposing sanctions on top Syrian officials.
    The state news agency SANA quoted a military source saying eight soldiers had been killed on Tuesday (May 17) in Tel Kelakh and in the southern rural Deraa province where protests first broke out exactly two months ago.
    It said five of the dead were killed when an "armed terrorist group" fired on a security forces patrol near Tel Kelakh, which is close to Lebanon's northern border.
    A Tel Kelakh resident said artillery and heavy machinegun fire hit the main road leading to Lebanon overnight, as well as the Abraj neighbourhood inhabited by minority Turkmen and Kurds.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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