Lebanese citizens run to cross a street to avoid sniper fire during clashes that erupted between pro and anti-Syrian regime gunmen in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. Gunmen loyal to opposite sides in neighboring Syria's civil war battled in the streets of northern Lebanon and the death toll from two days of fighting was at least five killed and 45 wounded, officials said. The fighting comes at a time of deep uncertainty in Syria, with rebels closing in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power in Damascus. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian civil war spills over into Lebanon
Lebanese citizens run to cross a street to avoid sniper fire during clashes that erupted between pro and anti-Syrian regime gunmen in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. Gunmen loyal to opposite sides in neighboring Syria's civil war battled in the streets of northern Lebanon and the death toll from two days of fighting was at least five killed and 45 wounded, officials said. The fighting comes at a time of deep uncertainty in Syria, with rebels closing in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power in Damascus. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press /
December 5, 2012
Text Size:
- –
- +
Page 2 of 2 --
‘‘We want their bodies back,’’ Omar al-Ghoul said.
On Wednesday, Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul-Karim Ali told Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour that Damascus has agreed to repatriate the men’s bodies. Lebanon’s National News Agency said the countries would soon discuss how to hand them over.
Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the dead men’s families on Tuesday and took details about the men, their brothers said.
Jihad Haj Deeb said his brother was about to resume his college studies and would not have jeopardized his future to fight in Syria.
‘‘He registered at the university four days before he went missing,’’ Haj Deeb said, adding that his brother took 500,000 pounds ($335) from their father to pay his tuition at Lebanese University, where he was a third-year mathematics student. Haj Deeb’s father, a school bus driver, makes $400 a month and has nine other children.
‘‘Had he been planning to go to Syria, he wouldn’t have registered,’’ added Jihad, saying his father had to borrow the money.
Meanwhile, the unrest inside Syria shows no sign of slowing down.
The uprising began with peaceful protests in March 2011 and later escalated into a civil war that the opposition says has killed more than 40,000 people.
Besides the violence roiling the capital, Damascus, there was growing speculation about the fate of a top Syrian spokesman who has become a prominent face of the regime.
Lebanese security officials have said Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi flew Monday from Beirut to London. But it was not clear whether Makdissi had defected, quit his post or been forced out. Syria has had no official comment on Makdissi, who has defended the regime’s crackdown on dissent.
___
Associated Press writers Karl Ritter in Doha, Qatar, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
