Syrian rebels have attacked a village in the country’s east, killing dozens of local Shiites, activists said Wednesday, highlighting the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria’s more than two-year-old conflict. A Syrian government official denounced the attack, saying it was a “massacre” of civilians.
In another escalation, a Syrian government helicopter on Wednesday fired three missiles on a border town in Lebanon, lightly wounding one person. At least one of the missiles struck the center of Arsal, according to Lebanese security officials and residents.
The Arsal attack is the latest incident of Lebanon being pulled into the war next door. Scores of rebels and civilians who fled from the Syrian western town of Qusair last week in the last days of a government military offensive there have taken refuge in Arsal.