LEBANON: Syrian families cross border to northern Lebanon fearing clashes in their hometown

Record ID: 279449

  • Title: LEBANON: Syrian families cross border to northern Lebanon fearing clashes in their hometown
  • Date: 30th April 2011
  • Summary: MAN CARRYING CHILD CROSSING THROUGH VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CROSSING THE BORDER
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon, Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7GMD6WZ54FLVW9UHU6P0J6BS2
  • Story Text: More Syrian families crossed Syria into Lebanon on Friday (April 29) fearing unrest in their hometown of Tel Kelakh which witnessed gunfire exchange a day earlier, witnesses said. It was not clear how many people were hurt in the clashes.
    The families, many of them women and children, crossed through the border-point of al-Boqaya on foot.
    On Thursday (April 28), 1,500 people had crossed on foot or walked through a river dividing the two countries because Syrian authorities had stopped them leaving through official border crossings.
    Syrian intelligence forces were seen in video footage patrolling the border area on the Syrian side.
    ''We are fleeing because there are protests that are going to erupt and the army has deployed two tanks and there are armed men and there are problems. And earlier there were clashes,'' said one woman who fled the Syrian village of Tel Kelakh.
    Syria has been hit by six weeks of protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. A Syrian rights group said on Thursday at least 500 people had been killed in the unrest.
    In Tripoli, hundreds of members and supporters of the Islamist group Hezb ut-Tahrir held a protest against the Syrian regime after Friday prayers. The protesters chanted in Arabic: ''Revolution, revolution.'' In another chant, they shouted: ''The one who kills his own people is a traitor.''
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
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