The Syrian Crisis

[SajeevJino]

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Allah Akbar Then Boom Boom

Somewhere in Syria

18+ Terrorist FSA destroys itself from an RPG-7. - YouTube

 

[nrupatunga]

Saudis agree to provide Syrian rebels with MANPADS

Saudi Arabia has offered to give the opposition for the first time Chinese man-portable air defence systems, or Manpads, and antitank guided missiles from Russia, according to an Arab diplomat and several opposition figures with knowledge of the efforts. Saudi officials couldn't be reached to comment.
The U.S. has long opposed arming rebels with antiaircraft missiles for fear they could fall into the hands of extremists who might use them against the West or commercial airlines. The Saudis have held off supplying them in the past because of U.S. opposition. A senior Obama administration official said Friday that the U.S. objection remains the same. "There hasn't been a change internally on our view," the official said.

The U.S. for its part has stepped up financial support, handing over millions of dollars in new aid to pay fighters' salaries, said rebel commanders who received some of the money. The U.S. wouldn't comment on any payments.

The focus of the new rebel military push is to retake the southern suburbs of Damascus in hopes of forcing the regime to accept a political resolution to the war by agreeing to a transitional government without President Bashar al-Assad.

But if the Manpads are supplied in the quantities needed, rebels said it could tip the balance in the stalemated war in favour of the opposition. The antiaircraft and Russian Konkurs antitank weapons would help them chip away at the regime's two big advantages on the battlefield—air power and heavy armour.

"New stuff is arriving imminently," said a Western diplomat with knowledge of the weapons deliveries. Rebel commanders and leaders of the Syrian political opposition said they don't know yet how many of the Manpads and antiaircraft missiles they will get. But they have been told it is a significant amount. The weapons are already waiting in warehouses in Jordan and Turkey.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Exclusive: Obama Admin Stiffs Chemical Survivors on New Claim - The Daily Beast

The Assad government may have used chemical weapons again as recently as last month, according to activists pressing the U.S. to investigate the attack.On Jan. 13 in the Syrian city of Daraya, five people were killed and more than 20 injured after being exposed to a mysterious gas. Syrian activists, including some witnesses on the ground, believe that the attack is evidence the Syrian government is still using chemical weapons against its own people—months after that regime pledged to destroy its nerve gas arsenal.

A group of survivors of Syrian government atrocities, including chemical weapons attacks verified by U.N. inspectors, visited Washington this month to press the White House, State Department, and Congressional officials to take a more active role in preventing atrocities in Syria—and to further investigate this alleged attack on Jan. 13.

The U.S. government, however, isn't inclined to do so—despite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's promise in September to give up his chemical stockpile, and despite mounting calls in Washington to do more about the ongoing carnage in Syria.

 

[nrupatunga]

Saudis go arms shopping in Pakistan for Syrian rebels

Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to Syrian rebels to try to tip the balance in the war to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a Saudi source said Sunday.

Pakistan makes its own version of Chinese shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, known as Anza, and anti-tank rockets -- both of which Riyadh is trying to get for the rebels, said the source, who is close to Saudi decision-makers, requesting anonymity.

The source pointed to a visit to Riyadh earlier this month by Pakistan's army chief of staff, General Raheel Sharif, who met Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

Prince Salman himself last week led a large delegation to Pakistan, shortly after Saudi's chief diplomat Prince Saud al-Faisal visited the kingdom's key ally.

Jordan will be providing facilities to store the weapons before they are delivered to rebels within Syria, the same source said.

 

[SajeevJino]

Another Air Strike

Israeli air raid hits Hezbollah targets​

Israeli warplanes have struck Hezbollah targets near the Lebanese-Syria border, the Lebanese press reported late Monday evening.

The hits were reportedly near the Lebanese towns of Janta and Yahfoufa, and were carried out by multiple planes on multiple targets.

According to the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star, IAF jets flew two bombing sorties against a Hezbollah post in the Nabi Sheet area on the border between Lebanon and Syria.

A Lebanese security source is quoted by The Daily Star as saying that Janta is known to be a hotbed of Hezbollah recruitment and training. It is also considered a key stop on the route through which arms are smuggled between Lebanon and Syria.

Eyewitnesses told the Lebanese press that the IAF jets were seen flying out to sea and back toward Israel.

Thus far, the Israeli army has refused to comment on the reports.

In August 2013, unnamed US officials told The New York Times that a July 5 IAF strike on a Syrian warehouse near Latakia targeted Russian-made Yakhont missiles destined for Hezbollah, and that the strike failed to destroy all of the missiles.

At the end of January, foreign reports claimed that Israeli fighter jets flying over northern Lebanon struck Latakia again. Some reports speculated that the targets were S-300 air defense systems destined for Hezbollah.

Foreign media reports have attributed five alleged Israeli air strikes on targets in Syria in 2013, reportedly to prevent the transfer of strategic arms to Hezbollah.

These include an alleged strike on a convoy ferrying SA-17 air defense missiles from Syria to Hezbollah in January, and two strikes in May in the Damascus area, targeting storage facilities housing guided, medium-range, Iranian Fateh-110 missiles.

Following the reports of strikes in May, a Syrian army post near the Israeli border opened fire at IDF soldiers patrolling the frontier. The IDF returned fire with a guided Tamuz surface-to-surface missile, destroying the post and hitting two Syrian soldiers. There were no injuries on the Israeli side.

A few days earlier, two Syrian mortar shells slammed into Mount Hermon.


Lebanese media: Israeli air raid hits Hezbollah targets | JPost | Israel News

 

[nrupatunga]

U.N. Security Council unanimously approves Syria aid access resolution

war on Saturday when Russia and China supported adoption of a resolution to boost aid access in Syria that threatens to take "further steps" in the case of non-compliance.

Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the Security Council during the three-year-long war. They had previously vetoed three resolutions that would have condemned Syria's government and threatened it with possible sanctions.

Lithuanian U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, president of the 15-member council for February, described the unanimous approval of the resolution, drafted by Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg, as a "moment of hope" for Syria's people.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council after the vote that Moscow supported the move because "many Russian considerations were borne in mind and as a result the document took on a balanced nature."

China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said that Beijing was "gravely concerned" by Syria's worsening humanitarian situation. "We strongly urge all the parties in Syria to implement this resolution in good faith," he said.

The initial text was weakened during negotiations with references to the International Criminal Court and targeted sanctions removed. But other contentious points including a demand for an end to barrel bombs, a demand for cross-border access and the naming of besieged areas were included.

"This resolution goes further than we have been able to get in three years," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters. "But a resolution is just words, it is implementation that matters and that's what we're starting measuring right now."

'FURTHER STEPS'

The resolution asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report to the council in 30 days on implementation and "expresses its intent to take further steps in the case of non-compliance." Diplomats say Russia is unlikely to agree to any action if Syria's government was found to be in non-compliance.

But several Western envoys expressed a strong intent to push for Security Council action if the resolution is ignored.

"Of course we would have liked to have seen this resolution be even stronger than it is but we are committed to coming back to the council to seek further action if the demands are not met," British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters.

Australian U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan said the Syrian conflict was "the biggest and the most devastating humanitarian crisis we're currently facing." He said: "There will be consequences for non-compliance. We will remain determined."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement on Saturday that the resolution "contains no threat of enforcement by sanctions."

The United Nations says 9.3 million people need help - nearly half the population - and that well over 100,000 people have been killed. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that more than 136,000 have been killed since a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

"This resolution should not have been necessary. Humanitarian assistance is not something to be negotiated; it is something to be allowed by virtue of international law," Ban told the council after the vote. "Profoundly shocking to me is that both sides are besieging civilians as a tactic of war," the U.N. Secretary-General added.

The resolution "demands that all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for U.N. humanitarian agencies ... including across conflict lines and across borders."

It also demands all parties "cease all attacks against civilians, as well as the indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the use of barrel bombs, and methods of warfare ... to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering."

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the Damascus government "has continued to work day and night in order to fulfill all of the humanitarian needs of its citizens."

"The Syrian government bears the largest share of the humanitarian assistance distributed in Syria, it has covered 75 percent of this assistance, whereas U.N. organizations and other international organization operating in Syria have covered only 25 percent," Ja'afari told the council.

FRUSTRATION

Najib Ghadbian, the opposition Syrian Coalition special representative to the United Nations, described the resolution as "a modest but necessary first step towards addressing the dire humanitarian needs of the Syrian people."

"But at this point, it is only a text. It is crucial that the resolution is implemented immediately and in full," he said in a statement.

The resolution strongly condemned "the increased terrorist attacks resulting in numerous casualties and destruction carried out by organizations and individuals associated with Al-Qaeda, its affiliates and other terrorist groups."

Russian's Churkin called on opposition groups in Syria to support the Syrian government in the fight against terrorism.

"We consider that the Security Council should swiftly move on to discussing a separate draft document to counter terrorist activity in Syria," the ambassador told the council.

The Security Council has now adopted five resolutions linked to the Syrian conflict. Aside from the aid access resolution, three resolutions were adopted in 2012 to mandate a failed U.N. observer mission to Syria and one last year on eradication of Syria's chemical weapons.

Western members of the Security Council have been considering a humanitarian resolution for almost a year. After months of talks, the council adopted a non-binding statement on October 2 urging more access to aid, but that statement produced only a little administrative progress.

U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos had urged the Security Council to act to increase humanitarian access in Syria. Amos has repeatedly expressed frustration that violence and red tape have slowed aid deliveries to a trickle.

"I hope that the passing, by the United Nations Security Council, of a humanitarian resolution will facilitate the delivery of aid to people in desperate need in Syria," Amos said in a statement after the vote.

So after 3 years, usa finally got a UN resolution (though a watered down) against assad. This resolution though watered down is more binding on assad than on rebels. Thus in a way after ukraine, even over syria, the west trumped over russia. How this will bear out in coming days/weeks is to be seen.

 

[SajeevJino]

Airstrike in Lebanon killed four Hezbollah fighters, targeted missiles​

The air strike believed to have been carried out by Israel on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon killed four members of the militant organization and took out "a missile shipment from Syria", the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reported early Wednesday

According to the report, the assault targeted took two trucks, one containing missiles and the other missile launchers, which were being transported to Hezbollah missile warehouses in Lebanon.

The paper quoted a "security source" as saying that the Israel Air Force had fired four missiles at the trucks, which were carrying "qualitative" weapons.

Hezbollah has aparently sought to downplay the incident, which its usually vocal television channel making little mention of it, and the organization deciding against making an official comment.

Meanwhile, Time Magazine on Tuesday quoted an Israeli official as saying that Israel was responsible for the attack, and that the convoy had apparently included missiles with larger and more dangerous warheads than ones already in Hezbollah's possession

Report: Airstrike in Lebanon killed four Hezbollah fighters, targeted missil... - Israel News, Ynetnews

 

[kseeker]

UN: Syrians to be world's biggest refugee group - The Times of India

UNITED NATIONS: Syrians could soon overtake Afghans as the world's biggest refugee population, with their numbers expected to pass 4 million by year's end, a top UN official said on Tuesday.

High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres spoke as the international community sharply urged Syria to comply with a new Security Council resolution demanding that President Bashar Assad and the opposition provide immediate access for humanitarian aid.

Opposition activists say more than 140,000 people have died in the conflict, which enters its fourth year next month. The UN says 9.3 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The number of Afghan refugees was 2.6 million at the end of 2012, UNHCR says. Syrians, with nearly 2.5 million registered as refugees, should overtake that long before the end of the year. About one-half of the refugees are children.

"It breaks my heart to see this nation that for decades welcomed refugees from other countries ripped apart and forced into exile itself," Guterres told the UN General Assembly. Just five years ago, Syria hosted the world's second-largest number of refugees, he said.

Syria's neighbors now plead for assistance as hundreds or thousands of people flee into their countries every day.

The number of Syrian refugees now registered in far smaller Lebanon, for example, is the equivalent of having 71 million of them registered in the United States or almost 15 million in France, Guterres said.

Top UN officials offered a bleak outlook on the overall humanitarian crisis Tuesday as pressure mounted on Syria and the opposition to comply with the new Security Council resolution. The legally binding measure threatens "further steps" if the resolution's demands aren't fulfilled.

The European Union warned that "deliberate denial of humanitarian aid is a war crime." UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant and others demanded that the Syria situation be referred to the International Criminal Court, which investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

US ambassador Samantha Power said the number of Syrians needing aid has grown by one-third since the Security Council issued a nonbinding presidential statement in early October on the humanitarian crisis.

"Unfortunately, history teaches us to be skeptical that the terms of this resolution will be observed," she said.

Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, insisted that his government "has spared no effort" in addressing humanitarian needs and is "perfectly capable of dealing with our own crisis."

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said the Syrian government should allow more humanitarian workers into the country, which UN officials have called a major issue in reaching an estimated 3.3 million people in isolated areas.

"It is not credible to cite bureaucratic procedures as reasons for delay when it is the government itself that controls those procedures," he said.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, insisted that his government "has spared no effort" in addressing humanitarian needs and is "perfectly capable of dealing with our own crisis."

lol. What a joke !!

 

[The Messiah]

Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, insisted that his government "has spared no effort" in addressing humanitarian needs and is "perfectly capable of dealing with our own crisis."

lol. What a joke !!

what do you want him to say ?

 

[Kshatriya87]

what do you want him to say ?

I agree that no country will accept publicly that they are not able to handle the situation. But being so disproportionately false when his own people are suffering is a joke as per my thinking.

Other countries have openly asked for help in similar situation. Its not a cowardly thing to do. After all, you'll be saving your own people. So I would like him to ask or at least hint for a little help.

 

[The Messiah]

I agree that no country will accept publicly that they are not able to handle the situation. But being so disproportionately false when his own people are suffering is a joke as per my thinking.

Other countries have openly asked for help in similar situation. Its not a cowardly thing to do. After all, you'll be saving your own people. So I would like him to ask or at least hint for a little help.

It is more complex than that, if it were a natural calamity then id agree but the present situation has arisen because of interference by other countries.

 

[Kshatriya87]

It is more complex than that, if it were a natural calamity then id agree but the present situation has arisen because of interference by other countries.

How does this make him not to call for help?

 

[happy]

European fighters in Syria - DAWN.COM

THE brutal civil war in Syria may seem a long way away to most Europeans but "foreign fighters" entangled in the bloody conflict are bringing the Syrian tragedy home to Europe.

There are no fixed — or indeed credible — estimates of just how many Europeans are fighting in Syria. Intelligence agencies say between 7,000 and 11,000 foreign fighters are in Syria at the moment, of whom about 2,000 are believed to be European Muslims.

Young men – and some women – have come from as far afield as Australia to join the motley and diverse group of opposition forces in the country, including Al Qaeda, which are fighting against Bashar Al Assad.

It's not just the fact that Europeans are killing and being killed in Syria that has European governments — and the United States — worried; it's the prospect of these foreign fighters returning home as Al Qaeda converts and terrorists-in-waiting, apparently ready to wreak havoc at home.

Intelligence officials across Europe and the US have been issuing dire warnings that the returnees could put their training in weapons and explosive to deadly use when they come back. There are also concerns that they could radicalise others and create a new generation of European-based "home-grown" extremists.

The fears are reflected in headlines across Europe and are feeding into the increasingly strident far-right rhetoric against Muslims and immigrants ahead of elections to the European Parliament to be held in May. The statements are also reviving the unfortunate stereotypes of "Muslims as terrorists" sparked by the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.

Saner voices warn that once again hyperbole and hysteria are overtaking a rational assessment of the real threat posed by Syria's foreign fighters. Their appeals for calm and a measured response to the danger are being ignored, however.

"We have knowledge of about a dozen people who were active in the conflict in Syria... and with this the threat of a terror attack in Germany increases," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), warned recently.

About 300 German citizens have reportedly left to join rebels fighting President Bashar Al Assad since the conflict began in 2011, and more than 20 have died there.

Similar concerns have been expressed by Maassen's counterparts in Britain and the US, with British officials underlining that foreign fighters now represent "the biggest challenge" to the security services since the terror attacks on the US.

"Syria is different from any other counter-terrorism challenge that we have faced since 9/11 — because of the number of terrorist groups now engaged in the fighting, their size and scale, the number of people from this country who are joining them, ease of travel, availability of weapons and the intensity of the conflict," according to Charles Farr, director general of the UK Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism.

Britain was particularly alarmed by a video posted online last month of a British suicide bomber in Syria. As a result, Home Secretary Theresa May has argued that Britons fighting alongside jihadists in Syria should be stripped of their citizenship. For many Europeans going to Syria is fairly easy, requiring only a cheap air ticket to Turkey and a short ride over the border with a trafficker.

Significantly, while many security experts fret over the possible future actions of the would-be terrorists, few have done any real research on just why these young people are heading to Syria. Those who have found time to look into the question say many who are joining the struggle against Assad regime are doing so because they believe in the cause of the opposition and are appalled by the government's atrocities.

Others are drawn by Al Qaeda propaganda and recruiters operating through social media, while still others are reacting to their disaffected status and social marginalisation in Europe. The truth is that young men are often drawn into foreign wars. It's the romance and the glamour, perhaps, as well as conviction.

The Spanish civil war in the 1930s drew many foreign fighters including the author George Orwell. Many Europeans and Americans fought in Bosnia and Afghanistan and during the revolt in Libya.

Certainly, the involvement of Al Qaeda in the Syrian civil war is a complicating factor, prompting fears that those coming back from the conflict will have been brainwashed into undertaking hostile acts.

As such, many commentators recognise that there is no room for complacency and those coming back from Syria should be interviewed, debriefed and monitored. Efforts must be made to discourage young Europeans from going to Syria.

Certainly, it is best to be prepared for the worst. But European governments must be careful not to stoke anti-Muslim hysteria. They should therefore strive to make the current conversation on foreign fighters less emotional — and try harder, much harder, to bring the bloody war in Syria to an end.

—The writer is Dawn's correspondent in Brussels.

 

[SajeevJino]

Nearly Half of Chemical Stockpile Taken Out of Syria – OPCW​

More than 45 percent of Syrian chemical weapons stockpile has been removed from the country, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that its joint mission with the UN confirmed that two additional consignments of toxic chemicals were delivered to the Syrian port of Latakia and loaded onto cargo vessels during the past week.

"The latest movements increased the portion of chemicals that have now been removed from Syria for destruction outside the country to more than 45%," OPCW said.

The operation to destroy the Syria government's arsenal of more than 1,000 metric tons of weapons-grade chemicals is due to take place in two stages.

The most dangerous material was to have been removed from Syria by December 31, although this deadline was missed as a result of the unstable security situation in the country. It should be destroyed at sea by April, with the rest slated for destruction by June 30.

Nearly Half of Chemical Stockpile Taken Out of Syria – OPCW | World | RIA Novosti

 

[Sea Eagle]

Syria ships out all mustard gas
Syria has totally reduced its military-chemical potential to zero, as Damascus has shipped out all its mustard gas, said Russia's Interior Ministry. According to the ministry, "there are no reason to question the final date of liquidation of the chemical weapons arsenal." The shipment of the toxic stockpile out of the conflict-torn country is scheduled for the first half of 2014.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Syria ships out all mustard gas
Syria has totally reduced its military-chemical potential to zero, as Damascus has shipped out all its mustard gas, said Russia's Interior Ministry. According to the ministry, "there are no reason to question the final date of liquidation of the chemical weapons arsenal." The shipment of the toxic stockpile out of the conflict-torn country is scheduled for the first half of 2014.

Emphatic statement by Russia's Interior Ministry makes me want to wait for confirmation by another entity. After all GRU just concocted a fantastic story about Malaysian airline being flown to Diego Garcia by remote control.

 

[Sea Eagle]

Obama says U.S. military strikes could not have stopped Syria misery

WASHINGTON - The United States could not have stopped the humanitarian crisis in Syria with military strikes, President Barack Obama said in a television interview airing on Friday, and said U.S. troops had reached their limits after long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama was asked in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley whether he regretted not applying U.S. force in Syria, where the three-year civil war has killed more than 140,000 people and displaced millions.
"It is, I think, a false notion that somehow we were in a position to, through a few selective strikes, prevent the kind of hardship that we've seen in Syria," Obama said.
"It's not that it's not worth it. It's after a decade of war, you know, the United States has limits," he said.
Obama said the United States would have a hard time committing to putting troops on the ground in Syria, a commitment he said could have lasted "perhaps another decade."
American troops have been involved in a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"And it's not clear whether the outcome in fact would have turned out significantly better," Obama said.
The interview was recorded before Obama flew to Saudi Arabia where he discussed the Syrian conflict with Saudi king Abdullah.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/obama-says-u-military-strikes-could-not-stopped-054455470.html

 

[SajeevJino]

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AUG Steyr and SA-16 MANPAD

 

[happy]

Syrian forces take last rebel stronghold on Lebanese border

Soldiers loyal to Syria's President Bashar Assad stand with members of the media at Al-Sahl town, about 2km (a mile) to Yabroud's north, March 3, 2014. Photo by Reuters

Syrian forces backed by Hezbollah militants took full control of the town of Yabroud on Sunday after driving out rebels, helping President Bashar Assad secure the land route linking the capital Damascus to Aleppo and the Mediterranean coast.

The fall of Yabroud, the last rebel bastion near the Lebanese border, could choke off a vital insurgent supply line from Lebanon and consolidate government control over a swathe of territory from Damascus to the central city of Homs.

The army "restored security and stability to Yabroud...after eliminating a large number of terrorist mercenaries," the Syrian military said in a statement hailing the strategic victory.

A military source told Reuters about 1,000 militants from the al Qaida-linked Nusra Front had held out on Saturday to fight government forces which had entered eastern districts of Yabroud and captured several hilltops.

"They fought a fierce battle and then from last night until the early hours of today they all pulled out," he said.

The source said the militants had withdrawn to the nearby villages of Hosh Arab, Fleita and Rankos as well as Arsal, a Lebanese border town 20 km (13 miles) to the northwest.

Hezbollah-operated Al Manar television broadcast scenes from Yabroud's main square where people walked around and talked in apparent safety. Soldiers replaced the three-star flag of the Syrian revolution with the government's two-star banner.

Footage from earlier in the day showed empty streets, shuttered shops and abandoned homes in a main thoroughfare. Heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.

The anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said fighters from the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, who supported the Syrian army and pro-government fighters in sealing off the frontier area with Lebanon, were now in control of large parts of Yabroud.

The army had dismantled a large number of explosive devices planted by the rebels, state TV said.

Thousands of civilians fled Yabroud, a town of about 40,000 to 50,000 people roughly 60 km (40 miles) north of Damascus, and the surrounding areas after it was bombed and shelled last month ahead of the government offensive.

The government has been making incremental gains along the land route and around Damascus and Aleppo in the past months, regaining the initiative in the three-year uprising-turned-civil war which has killed more than 140,000 people.

Battle to close the crossings

The military source said that in parallel to the capture of Yabroud, the army and air force had closed 14 of 18 crossings into Lebanon, where violence has spilled over in the past year.

"In the next few days, the battle will be over closing these remaining crossings," the source said.

Syrian state television said the army was targeting rebels between Fleita and Arsal who had withdrawn from Yabroud.

Al Manar said air raids had destroyed several trucks carrying fleeing militants near Arsal.

An influx of militants into Lebanon from Syria threatens to further destabilize the small Mediterranean country whose own 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Sectarian tensions between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims have already been heightened by the war in Syria, causing insecurity and political gridlock.

A local Lebanese official from Arsal told Al Arabiya television he wanted the Lebanese army to secure the border and prevent militants fleeing Yabroud from entering his town.

"We in Arsal are not ready to accept militants. Even if we support the revolution, the militants' battle is in Syria, not in Lebanon. Arsal will not be the place from which war is sparked inside Lebanon," he said.

A Nusra Front fighter in Yabroud denied that the rebels had planned to withdraw to Arsal.

Syrian forces take last rebel stronghold on Lebanese border - Middle East Israel News | Haaretz