Lebanese gunmen sprang into action and sirens blared yesterday as rockets struck a mainly Shi’ite town near the Syrian border where authorities are struggling to contain sectarian violence fuelled by a Syrian army offensive across the frontier.

The rocket attack on al-Labwa was the latest strike on a Shi’ite target inside Lebanon after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and their Lebanese Hizbollah allies recaptured the border town of Yabroud from Sunni Muslim rebels on Sunday.

Rebel loss of Yabroud could exacerbate tensions

The rebel defeat at Yabroud sent a stream of refugees and fighters across the border towards the Lebanese Bekaa Valley town of Arsal, and was followed hours later by a suicide car bombing against a local stronghold of Shi’ite Hizbollah.

The border area has been steadily sucked into Syria’s three-year-old conflict as Syrian troops and jets targeted rebel bases on the frontier and suspected Syrian rebels fired rockets at Shi’ite towns to punish Hizbollah for supporting Assad.

But the rebel loss of Yabroud could exacerbate sectarian tensions across Lebanon and the flight of 2,000 defeated rebels – some of them into Lebanese territory – would further destabilise the already volatile Bekaa Valley.

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