Syrian violence spills over to Lebanon

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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese security officials say clashes in Syria have spilled across the border into Lebanon.

Two Lebanese officials, one from the police and another from the military, say the clashes on the Syrian side of the border started on Tuesday afternoon in the Mashareaa al-Qaa area.

Both officials said bullets struck the Lebanese side of the border. But the officials said no troops have crossed over into Lebanon.

However, a Reuters report stated that Syrian armored personnel carriers and troops had crossed the border and destroyed buildings in Lebanon.

The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria’s yearlong uprising. There are concerns that the conflict could cause a regional conflagration.

UN envoy Kofi Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said on Tuesday that Syria has accepted his plan to end country’s bloodshed. The plan includes a cease-fire by Syrian forces, a daily two-hour halt to fighting to evacuate injured people and provide humanitarian aid and inclusive talks about a political solution. Famzi said that the Syrian government’s acceptance of Annan’s proposal came in a letter addressed to the U.N. envoy.

An activist group said that Syrian security forces have killed 10 people in that country as the regime pushes to retake areas still under rebel control.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people died in Tuesday’s attacks in the northwestern Idlib province. The government recently recaptured the provincial capital, also called Idlib, after it was under rebel control for months.

The Observatory also said six people were killed Tuesday in the Damascus suburbs of Zabadani and Douma, the central city of Homs and in the eastern region of Deir el-Zour.

Syria’s uprising has become increasingly militarized, with many in the opposition taking up arms in self-defense or to fight the government.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.