Gunmen kill four Lebanese Shiites in Bekaa region

Baalbek, Lebanon: Unidentified gunmen killed four Shiites in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon on Sunday, a security source told AFP, as the conflict in Syria raised fresh tensions in its neighbour.

“Gunmen killed three members of the Jaafar family and a man from the Amhaz family as they were passing through the Qaa area of the Bekaa,” the source said, referring to two Lebanese Shiite clans.

A fifth man was seriously injured in the incident, he said.

The Qaa region along the Syrian border is a predominately Sunni area and neighbours Arsal, another Sunni region where many residents support the Syrian uprising.

With tensions running high, the source said armed members of the Jaafar family had gathered around five kilometres (three miles) from the town of Arsal in the wake of the killings.

The conflict in Syria, pitting a Sunni-led opposition against a regime dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite sect, has exacerbated tensions in Lebanon.

The powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah backs the regime of President Bashar Al Assad and has sent fighters to battle alongside Syria’s army.

Lebanon’s Sunni-led opposition however backs the uprising against Assad and has accused Hezbollah of endangering the country by becoming directly involved in the conflict.

The fighting has regularly spilled over into Lebanon, with rockets fired from Syria landing in Sunni and Shiite areas along the border.

The Syrian air force has also launched raids inside Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah commands support throughout much of eastern Lebanon along the Syrian border, but Sunni areas like Arsal within the region back the Syrian uprising.