Syria Presses Sweep towards Lebanon Border

Syrian troops pushed towards the Lebanese border on Sunday as they pressed a deadly crackdown on dissent in central towns, where gunfire rattled overnight, activists said.

The latest violence in the town of Kseir, near the flashpoint city of Homs, forced "hundreds" of people to flee over the border into Lebanon, the activists said.

The exodus came as Turkey, where some 12,000 Syrians have already taken refuge in recent weeks, scrambled to build a border tent city to accommodate a possible new influx of refugees.

Rami Abdul Rahman, who heads the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP in Nicosia that shots rang out overnight in Kseir -- 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the border with Lebanon, and in Homs.

"Shots were heard overnight Saturday in the town of Kseir," he said quoting residents, adding that, further north, gunfire was heard in several neighborhoods in Homs.

"Yesterday (Saturday) hundreds of residents fled from Kseir to Lebanon," Abdul Rahman said.

Four civilians were shot dead by security forces on Saturday, two of them in Kseir and the other two in Kiswah, south of the capital.

Activists say that security forces have bolstered their presence in Kseir since Friday while troops have been controlling areas of Homs for several days, as part of a policy to crush pro-democracy protests.

The sweep against the opponents of the autocratic regime of President Bashar Assad has also seen troops backed by tanks storm villages near the border with Turkey.

On Saturday, tanks rumbled into Al-Najia, after similar operations in Jisr al-Shughur, seized June 12, and Khirbet al-Joz, where troops deployed on Thursday, activists have said.

Al-Najia is on the road linking the northwestern city of Latakia to Jisr al-Shughur -- home to 50,000 people, most of whom fled after the army seized the town, with many crossing into Turkey.

The pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said the military sweep was aimed at "tracking down armed groups" who have committed "horrible crimes" against peaceful residents.

It described Khirbet al-Joz as a "key crossing for armed groups from and to the Turkish" border, adding that the army "is now cleansing" the village of any armed presence, securing roads and protecting residents.

In Lebanon, a cleric and a village headman said hundreds of people, mostly Lebanese living in Syria, had sought safe haven in the northern Akkar region over the weekend.

Around 350 to 400 people streamed into Kuneissat on Friday and Saturday, said the headman of the Lebanese border village Ali Hammoud, adding that most came from Al-Hit and Dweik villages and some from Kseir.

"They came after hearing rumors that the violence could spread to Al-Hit and Dweik," said imam Sheikh Mustafa Hammoud. "It is just a precaution," he added, expecting them to go back soon.

Anti-government protests swelled on Friday with tens of thousands of people surging onto the streets in response to Syrian Revolution 2011 -- a Facebook group and driving force behind three months of demonstrations.

Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas against the protesters, killing 18 people and wounding scores more, activists told AFP.

Abdul Karim Rihawi of the Syrian League for Human Rights said funerals were held on Saturday for Friday's victims.

Friday's protests contested the "legitimacy" of the Syrian regime, dominated by the ruling Baath Party for nearly five decades, despite Assad's offer earlier in the week of a "national dialogue" and a general amnesty.

Syria's crackdown has triggered waves of international condemnation.

The European Union imposed fresh sanctions on the regime and its cohorts this week, targeting as well Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards accused of helping the regime to quell the unrest -- a charge denied by Damascus.

EU leaders also adopted a declaration on Friday denouncing "in the strongest possible terms the ongoing repression and unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply against its own people."

Meanwhile opposition figures announced they will meet in Damascus on Monday to discuss "how to solve the crisis" which has gripped Syria since mid-March

The Syrian Observatory says 1,342 civilians have been killed in the government's crackdown and that 342 security force personnel have also lost their lives.