May 15, 2011

Two Lebanese security officials say four people in Lebanon were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire at protesters who approached the border with Israel.

The security officials said there were injuries as well. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The demonstration came as a large crowd of protesters also tried to cross into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from neighboring Syria.

hundreds of Syrians have fled to neighboring Lebanon to escape a violent crackdown against an anti-government uprising that has claimed the lives of more than 800 civilians, Lebanese security officials and a leading human rights group said. President Bashar Assad, meanwhile, reportedly has set up a committee to lead a dialogue with the opposition, the latest offer by the regime as it struggles to end the unrest threatening his family’s 40-year-old dynasty. Protesters have been taking to the streets in a number of Syrian cities for the past two months to try to force Assad to introduce reforms or resign from office, as leaders in Tunisia and Egypt already have. The government has responded by sending the army onto the streets to counter the demonstrators. The Lebanese security officials said cracks of gunfire from the western Syrian town of Talkalakh were heard on the Lebanese side of the border on Saturday. More than 5,000 Syrians have fled the area in the past weeks, with more than 500 people crossing the border on Saturday alone, the officials said. They said four wounded people were brought to Lebanon and that one later died of his wounds. The Lebanese security officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri ordered Lebanese government agencies to work with international aid groups to assist the refugees, his office said in a statement.

The shooting in Talkalakh came a day after Syrian security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters at several rallies across the country, killing at least nine people, said Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. Qurabi said that with the latest deaths, the numbers of civilians killed since the protests began in mid-March reached at least 801. Also Saturday, the website of the private daily Al-Watan, which is close to the government, said Assad had formed a committee tasked with talking to the opposition.