Syrian shelling kills Lebanese man

Lebanese villages adjacent to the northern border with Syria came under continued bombardment Saturday evening into Sunday morning for the second day running. One man was killed and his brother injured as homes and properties sustained serious damage. Locals are fleeing the area and anger is rising. A report issued Sunday morning said local official Ahmed Chehab was killed and his brother Hani injured by Syria shelling in the al-Haicha village in the Wadi Khaled region. The report describes wide-spread panic in the Wadi Khaled region due to shelling and gunfire from across the border.s Hammoud Naji Ramadan, mayor of the town of Machta said a home was hit by an artillery shell but that no-one was killed. Future Movement MP for Akkar Mouiine el-Merehbi had earlier condemned "[Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad's gangs' assassination of Akkar citizens Hussein el-Ezzu in Wadi Khaled." El-Merehbi's statement also accused the army for allowing el-Ezzu to bleed to death before locals were able to retrieve his body from the site. "Those who are charged with protection [citizens] did nothing and watched the gangs shoot at the rescuers." Describing the Lebanese government as "Assadist," the MP criticised its delay in deploying army units along borders "to protect locals from attacks" and accused it of persecuting "one weak section" of Lebanese society while turning a blind eye to Akkar residents' suffering. The Future Movement MP called on President Michel Sleiman to act in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces to "act in accordance with the oath he made to protect the country and its citizens by deploying our national army at the borders and demand that the United Nations implement Section 7 of Security Council Resolution 1701 to seek the held on international forces to guard our unprotected territories."