Syrian helicopter reportedly opens fire on Lebanese border townJune 12, 2013 - 17:49 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A Syrian helicopter opened fire on a Lebanese border town in the eastern Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, wounding two people, the Lebanese army said in a statement, according to Reuters. The incident took place in the mainly Sunni Muslim town of Arsal, whose residents strongly support the rebellion against President Bashar Assad in neighbouring Syria. "A Syrian helicopter fired two rockets towards the square of the town, two people were wounded," the army statement said. Arsal has also sheltered fighters who fled the Syrian border town of Qusair, captured by Assad's forces and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas after more than two weeks of fierce fighting with rebels. Violence from Syria has increasingly spilled into Lebanon. Rocket fire from rebel-held border areas has fallen on the pro-Hezbollah, Shi'ite town of Hermel in recent weeks, in apparent response to the group's battle across the border in Qusair. Syrian forces have also frequently crossed the poorly defined border in pursuit of rebels. Deeper inside Lebanon, street fighting fuelled by tensions over Syria has killed dozens of people in the northern city of Tripoli, and two rockets were fired last month towards Hezbollah-controlled south Beirut. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |