Syria’s crackdown against dissidents has moved beyond its borders and spilled into the Lebanese border, near the town of Wadi Khaled, killing one person and wounding five, including a Lebanese soldier, a security official told Agence-France Presse on Sunday.
The person killed was identified as a Syrian woman, the sources said.
Since Saturday, hundreds of residents of the western Syrian town of Tall Kalakh, which is encircled by the army, have fled toward northern Lebanon.
On Saturday, at least four people were shot dead and several others wounded by gunfire from the security forces in Tall Kalakh, when thousands had gathered to stage a second day of protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
A witness in Tall Kalakh told AFP that residents were treating the wounded in a small clinic rather than the town hospital to prevent the casualties from being arrested or "finished off."
The Syrian government, meanwhile, said that many armed men from Banias and Homs have fled and sought refuge in Tall Kalakh, and that "fighters" from Lebanon crossed to Syria to aid them.
"Heavy fighting took place Saturday between the Syrian army and armed groups that have taken up positions in Tall Kalakh," said the newspaper Al-Watan, known for its close ties to the Assad regime.
The mayor of the Lebanese town of Moqaibleh, Rami Khazaal, estimated that almost 1,000 refugees had fled across the border into northern Lebanon on Saturday.
Syria has been plagued with violence since the first pro-reform protests broke out on March 15.
At least five people were killed in protests on Friday in the central city of Homs and a Damascus suburb, activists said, despite an order from President Assad for security forces not to open fire, reported AFP.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmud announced later the same day that a "national dialogue" would be launched as soldiers withdrew from flashpoint cities and towns such as Banias and Daraa.
An estimated 850 people have been killed and at least 8,000 arrested since the protests started in mid-March, according to human rights groups. President Assad’s regime blames the violence on "armed terrorist gangs" and has denied access to foreign media.