BEIRUT, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese army announced on Friday that four Lebanese soldiers were injured during renewed clashes with Syrian militants on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
In a statement on X, the Lebanese army said clashes renewed in the Ma'arboun-Baalbek area on the Lebanese-Syrian border after Syrian militants targeted a Lebanese military unit with medium weapons, which led to the injury of four army personnel.
In a separate statement earlier in the day, the army said that Syrians opened fire on an army unit that was closing an illegal border crossing in the Ma'arboun-Baalbek area in eastern Lebanon.
After encountering Syrian individuals who "tried to open the crossing with a bulldozer... the Lebanese army personnel fired warning shots into the air, and the Syrians opened fire on the army personnel, which led to one injury and a clash between the two sides," the statement said.
A Lebanese military source told Xinhua that the Lebanese army "has summoned additional forces to this axis to reinforce it."
Syria has experienced political upheaval as a militant coalition led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group toppled former President Bashar al-Assad's government in early December, prompting many Syrians to flee to Lebanon. ■
