Syrian troops close in on Lebanon border

Updated at: 1039 PST, Monday, June 27, 2011
DAMASCUS: Syrian troops pushed towards the Lebanese border as they pressed a deadly crackdown in central towns ahead of Monday's opposition meeting in Damascus on the country's unrest, activists said.

The latest violence in Kseir, near the flashpoint city of Homs, forced "hundreds" of people to flee over the border into Lebanon, the activists said.

The exodus came as Turkey, where about 12,000 Syrians have already taken refuge in recent weeks, scrambled to erect a border tent city to accommodate a possible new influx of refugees.

Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told that shots rang out in Kseir -- 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border with Lebanon, and in Homs.

He said on Saturday, "hundreds of residents fled from Kseir to Lebanon."

Four civilians were shot dead by security forces on Saturday, two in Kseir and two in Kiswah, south of the capital.

Activists say that security forces have bolstered their presence in Kseir since Friday, while troops have been controlling areas of Homs for several days, as part of a policy to crush pro-democracy protests.

The sweep against the opponents of the autocratic regime of President Bashar al-Assad has also seen troops backed by tanks storm villages near the border with Turkey.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Sunday that Assad had passed the point of no return. (AFP)