LEBANON: About 750 residents of Syrian villages near the border flee to Lebanon while activists say three people were killed in a shooting in border village

Record ID: 279755

  • Title: LEBANON: About 750 residents of Syrian villages near the border flee to Lebanon while activists say three people were killed in a shooting in border village
  • Date: 15th May 2011
  • Summary: MORE OF REFUGEES WALKING CROWDS AT BORDER MORE FAMILIES PASSING/WOMAN SAYING: ''It's bad.'' MORE OF REFUGEES WALKING
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon, Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA1AQHL7K8B52D383QN5YTLK32J
  • Story Text: Three people were killed after Syrian troops and gunmen entered the town of Tel Kelakh on Saturday (May 14), a rights campaigner said, and hundreds fled what they said was fierce fighting into neighbouring Lebanon.
    The violence came a day after activists said at least six people were killed during nationwide protests which erupted in defiance of a military crackdown aimed a crushing opposition to the autocratic rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
    One of the three who died had been evacuated to Lebanon from the border town of Tel Kelakh, where fleeing residents reported seeing soldiers and black-clad gunmen loyal to Assad, and said they heard the sound of machine gun fire.
    Some 750 Syrian nationals fled to Lebanon through an unofficial border crossing on Saturday adding to some 1500 who had fled in the past week only.
    Those who fled were residents of the villages of Tel Kelakh and Arida on the Syrian side.
    Some of those escaping described the situation inside as ''very bad.'' One woman said Syrian security men were shooting at residents.
    ''They shot her. And they shot four more people. My niece was shot in her foot. She was with her mother coming back from dialysis and the car they were in was shot at. They brought six people injured here now,'' said one woman who fled from Tel Kelakh adding that one of the wounded died later in hospital in Lebanon.
    Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said the toll from Friday's protests had risen to nine -- four in the central city of Homs, three in towns around Damascus, and two in the southern city of Deraa.
    But the bloodshed after Friday prayers was still less than in previous weeks.
    There were fewer clashes and the numbers of protesters were lower in areas where Assad dispatched troops and tanks to stamp out rallies.
    Witnesses to at least two demonstrations on Friday said security forces backed off from confrontation, apparently heeding a reported order from Assad not to shoot protesters.
    Assad has tried a mix of reforms and repression to stamp out the dissent, but with neither protesters nor government breaking the deadlock after two months of unrest, authorities announced on Friday plans for a "national dialogue".
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