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Syria Warplanes Hit Lebanon for First Time Syria Warplanes Hit Lebanon for First Time
(about 4 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian warplanes attacked targets inside eastern Lebanon on Monday, the official Lebanese National News Agency reported. It appeared to be the first time since the Syrian conflict began two years ago that the military had used its air force to strike at suspected rebel hideouts across the Lebanon border. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian warplanes attacked targets inside eastern Lebanon on Monday, the first time since the Syria conflict began two years ago that the military has used its air force to strike at suspected rebel hide-outs across the Lebanon border.
A brief dispatch by the news agency said that “warplanes affiliated with the Syrian Air Force” attacked the Wadi al-Khayl Valley area, near the Lebanese border town of Arsal, without specifying whether they had caused casualties or damage. The mountainous area is known for its porous border. It is considered a haven for Syrian insurgents, and the civilian population there largely opposes President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The aerial assault, reported by Lebanon’s National News Agency and other news outlets in Lebanon, was the third serious border episode tied to the Syria conflict in the past two weeks and underscored how the violence threatens to engulf the country’s neighbors.
Al-Manar, the television broadcaster controlled by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which supports Mr. Assad, said the warplanes had targeted two barns used by anti-Assad fighters. Agence France-Presse, quoting an unidentified Lebanese security services official, said at least four missiles were fired. It came as representatives of Syria’s main political opposition group were meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, to establish the beginnings of a provisional government, to be based in rebel-held areas of northern Syria, that would theoretically compete with President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Damascus. The first step was to select a prime minister, but representatives meeting late into Monday night were reported to be still voting on a choice.
There was speculation the front-runner was Ghassan Hitto, a communications executive who used to live in Texas. But opposition officials said other candidates were also in contention, notably Asaad Mustafa, a former agriculture minister, and Osama Kadi, an economist. It was unclear when an official announcement would be made.
The concept of a rival government run by the opposition inside Syrian territory has faced a mixed reaction in the United States, which has long demanded that Mr. Assad resign and that an independent transitional government acceptable to all sides replace him, as agreed to in a major conference on Syria in Geneva nine months ago. “That’s the road forward,” Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Monday in Washington. “But you have to have a President Assad who is willing to appoint that independent entity. And as of this moment, he is not.”
While the United States is not yet willing to provide weapons to the insurgency, as France and Britain have said they are prepared to do, Mr. Kerry reiterated the Obama administration’s position that “that the United States does not stand in the way of other countries that have made a decision to provide arms, whether it’s France or Britain or others.”
Earlier on Monday, Lebanon’s National News Agency said in a brief dispatch that “warplanes affiliated with the Syrian Air Force” had attacked the Wadi al-Khayl Valley area, near the Lebanese border town of Arsal, without specifying whether they had caused casualties or damage. The mountainous area is known for its porous border. It is considered a haven for Syrian insurgents, and the civilian population there largely opposes Mr. Assad.
Syrian forces have occasionally fired guns or mortar rounds across the Lebanon border in clashes with anti-Assad fighters, but had never before used warplanes to attack suspected rebel positions inside Lebanese territory.Syrian forces have occasionally fired guns or mortar rounds across the Lebanon border in clashes with anti-Assad fighters, but had never before used warplanes to attack suspected rebel positions inside Lebanese territory.
There was no immediate confirmation of the attack from the Syrian government. But it warned on Thursday that its forces might fire into Lebanon because of what it called repeated incursions by terrorist gangs, the standard official Syrian terminology for the armed opposition to Mr. Assad. There was no immediate explanation for the attack from the Syrian government. But it had warned on Thursday that its forces might fire into Lebanon because of what it called repeated incursions by terrorist gangs, the standard official Syrian terminology for the armed opposition to Mr. Assad.
That warning, contained in a diplomatic protest delivered through the Syrian Embassy in Beirut, complained that “armed terrorist gangs have infiltrated Syrian territory in large numbers from Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s government, mindful of the long history of entanglements with its neighbor, has sought to remain neutral over the conflict in Syria. But sectarian tensions have been stoked by the conflict nonetheless, aggravated in part by the influx of more than 300,000 Syrians seeking refuge in Lebanon. Many of them are Sunnis, the Islamic sect that also forms the backbone of the insurgency. Mr. Assad’s minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.Lebanon’s government, mindful of the long history of entanglements with its neighbor, has sought to remain neutral over the conflict in Syria. But sectarian tensions have been stoked by the conflict nonetheless, aggravated in part by the influx of more than 300,000 Syrians seeking refuge in Lebanon. Many of them are Sunnis, the Islamic sect that also forms the backbone of the insurgency. Mr. Assad’s minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The warplane attack was at least the third serious border episode in the past few weeks, underscoring how the Syrian conflict has threatened to destabilize the Middle East. On March 4, anti-Assad insurgents in western Iraq killed dozens of Syrian soldiers who had temporarily sought safety on the Iraqi side of the border. On March 6, insurgents seized a group of United Nations soldiers on patrol in the disputed Golan Heights region between Syria and Israel, the first time international peacekeepers had been ensnared in the Syrian conflict, but they were released three days later. Hostilities in the Syrian conflict have spilled over at least two other frontier areas this month. On March 4, anti-Assad insurgents in western Iraq killed dozens of Syrian soldiers who had temporarily sought safety on the Iraqi side of the border. On March 6, insurgents seized a group of United Nations soldiers on patrol in the disputed Golan Heights region between Syria and Israel, the first time international peacekeepers had been ensnared in the Syrian conflict, but they were released three days later.
News of the warplane attack coincided with unconfirmed reports of mortar fire in relatively affluent parts of Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group based in Britain with a network of contacts inside Syria, reported that two mortar rounds had struck the bridge linking the Mezzeh neighborhood to Mount Qasyoun in Damascus, and that another mortar round had fallen in Mezzeh near the Ministry of Higher Education. It was unclear which side had fired them.

Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Anne Barnard contributed reporting from Beirut, and Hala Droubi from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.