Residents of villages in Lebanon that border Syria have expressed grave concern over cross-border incursions by Syrian army troops. Reports from villages in the area say Syrian emissaries have warned residents in recent days that if Lebanese villages continue to give shelter to Syrians escaping from Syrian tyranny, the Syrian army will enter those villages and search for Syrian citizens hiding there.
Syrian troops have already fired into Lebanese villages several times over the past week, a report in the Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat daily said. The shootings, usually done under cover of night, are apparently warnings to villagers of the consequences they may face if they take in refugees. Syrian troops also crossed the border at least once, the Lebanese Army said, entering some 200 meters into Lebanese territory pursuing Lebanese refugees. “The Lebanese army immediately headed to the area, only to find that the Syrian army unit went back to the Syrian territory," a Lebanese army statement said, adding that the Syrians continued to fire at Lebanese territory even as they were retreating.
Nearly 4,000 Syrian refugees have escaped into Lebanon, the United Nations said in a report last Friday, with over 600 arriving in just the previous two weeks. Human rights groups on Wednesday said that the death toll among Syrians who have been protesting against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has now exceeded 5,000.
Over 10,000 refugees have also escaped into Turkey over the past six months. Syria has demanded the return of those refugees as well, but has not threatened military incursions into Turkey. Turkey had been trying to persuade Assad to stop his campaign of terror against Syrians protesting his government, but to no avail – and on Wednesday, after meeting with U.S. President Barack H. Obama, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan said that Ankara was prepared to impose sanctions on Syria, as the U.S. had. "I halted talks with the Syrian government. I did not want to come to this point. But the Syrian government forced us to make such a decision," Erdogan told Turkish journalists in New York on Wednesday after meeting with Obama. "The United States has sanctions regarding Syria. Our foreign ministers will be working together to decide what our sanctions may be," Erdogan added.