Lebanese Army on high alert at border with Syria

BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army has upped its alert at the border with Syria following an intelligence report citing activity by armed Syrian rebels in the area.

According to Israel Radio, Lebanese troops on Thursday arrested six Syrians traveling on motorcycles who allegedly tried to infiltrate into Lebanon. Weapons and night-vision devices were found on them, according to the report.

Meanwhile, an international human rights organization has urged Lebanon to rein in sectarian tensions that have been on the rise amid a spillover of Syria’s civil war.

Human Rights Watch said Friday that authorities should better protect minority Alawites — members of an offshoot Shiite sect — who are increasingly coming under attack by Sunni extremists in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

The New York-based watchdog says Alawites in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen district have been beaten and stabbed, and the whole community has endured gun battles and mortar attacks over the past year.

Syria’s nearly three-year-old conflict has deepened sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where factions loyal to Syria’s warring sides often clash. Lebanon’s Sunni Muslims support Syrian rebels trying to topple President Bashar Assad’s government, which is dominated by Alawites.