Lebanon protests violence spillover from Syria

Lebanon has condemned the spillover of violence from Syria into its territory, saying it will complain to the Arab League about the Sunday deaths of two people by artillery fire.

“The safety of every Lebanese citizen and village is the responsibility of the Lebanese state, and any attack from any side is unacceptable,” Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour said after a ministerial meeting on Monday.

Abu Faou said Beirut holds both the foreign-backed insurgents and the Syrian government responsible for the spillover and it will present “a memorandum to the Arab League,” which would “protest… any attack regardless of which party was responsible for it.”

He said the foreign ministry would “undertake all necessary measures and communications to ensure all sides bear their responsibilities and do not repeat such attacks.”

The military is also taking unspecified measures “to protect Lebanese citizens from any attack,” he added.

The remark comes after two separate incidents of fire spilling over from Syria, killing two Lebanese citizens in the southern parts of the country.

Reports say the fire came from foreign-backed insurgents fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Lebanese army said its units “were deployed widely across the area and took measures in the field necessary to protect people and respond to the source of the attack as appropriate,” after the Sunday attacks.