Syria troops fight army dissidents near border with Lebanon; several people killed The USA Times

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Friday, May 25, 2012

Syria troops fight army dissidents near border with Lebanon; several people killed

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

BEIRUT - Activists say Syrian troops are battling army dissidents in an area near the border with Lebanon and that several people have been killed.

The Local Coordination Committees group says 12 people died in the fighting in Wadi Barada, an area near the mountain resort town of Zabadani. It says those killed include five rebels from the group known as the Free Syrian Army.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has the names of four people who died Wednesday. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the two figures.

The fighting near the Lebanese border comes a day after Syrian forces took back control of the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus after rebel soldiers briefly captured the area in a startling advance last week.