Syria foils infiltration attempt by militants on Lebanese border

The gunmen tried to enter the Syrian city of Talkalakh, located 150 kilometers (93 miles) northwest of Damascus, on Tuesday, but were repelled and forced to flee back into Lebanon, the SANA news agency reported.
 
Syria has been gripped by a deadly unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government forces, have been killed in the violence.
 
Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
 
The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.
 
Several international human rights organizations have accused militants operating in Syria of committing war crimes.
 
In an interview recently broadcast on Turkish television, President Assad said that if the militants fighting against the Syrian government take power in his country they could destabilize the entire Middle East for decades.
 
“If the unrest in Syria leads to the partitioning of the country, or if the terrorist forces take control… the situation will inevitably spill over into neighboring countries and create a domino effect throughout the Middle East and beyond,” he added.
 
UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos and High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on April 18 that a quarter of Syria’s 22 million people are displaced within the country and 1.3 million have fled to other states in the Middle East and North Africa.
 
“Children are among the ones who suffer most. Children have been murdered, tortured and subjected to sexual violence. Many do not have enough food to eat. Millions have been traumatized by the horrors,” Amos said.