Lebanon’s Defence Minister Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra agreed on a ceasefire, the Lebanese and Syrian defence ministries said in statements on Monday, as cross-border clashes in the past two days left 10 dead.
Three soldiers in Syria’s new army and seven Lebanese were killed in border clashes during the past two days, the Syrian defence ministry and Lebanese health ministry said.
On the Lebanese side, 52 people were wounded, the health ministry said.
The Lebanese and Syrian defence ministers also agreed on continuing contacts between the army intelligence directorates to prevent more deterioration on the border.
The mountainous frontier has been a flashpoint in the three months since Islamist rebels toppled Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and installed their own institutions and army.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Foreign Affairs Minister Youssef Raji met his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani in Brussels to discuss the cross-border developments and agreed to maintain contacts, the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.