One dead in clash near Syria-Lebanon border

Syrian border guards clashed with a group of people attempting to sneak into the country from neighbouring Lebanon, Damascus state media reported on Saturday,
claiming one "terrorist" was killed.

State news agency SANA said Syrian army guards clashed at noon Saturday "with a terrorist group" as they tried to enter central Homs province via an unofficial border crossing from northern Lebanon.

"The clashes ended with the killing of a member of the terrorist group, and the rest fleeing towards Lebanese territory," SANA reported.

A Lebanese military source told AFP that a Syrian was killed overnight in an "armed skirmish" as people were being smuggled into Lebanon.

"One Syrian was killed and a second person was wounded and is being treated at a hospital in northern Lebanon," the source said.

And Lebanon's national news agency also said a Syrian national was killed on Friday night on the Syrian side of the al-Kabir River, which serves as the northern border between the two countries.

"Another Syrian living in (the Lebanese village) of al-Aboudiyah was wounded, but he managed to cross the river into Lebanon," the NNA reported.

It was not possible to confirm if the Lebanese and Syrian sources were talking about the same incident.

Syria's nearly seven-year war has regularly spilt over into Lebanon, with several suicide blasts rocking the capital Beirut in recent years and armed groups entrenching themselves along the border.