Lebanon border town hit by Syrian gunfire

Syrian troops armed with machine guns fired into the Bekaa border town of al-Joura in Masharih al-Qaa for the second straight night, security sources said Friday. The sources, speaking to Lebanon's The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, said gunfire was heard between 9pm and midnight in al-Joura, which has been used as a passage by Syrians fleeing violence into Lebanon. The sources said several homes were struck by the gunfire but no casualties were reported. This was the second night in a row that al-Joura has been targeted by Syrian troops. Syrians fired seven mortar shells Wednesday night into al-Joura, but they all fell in uninhabited areas. No casualties were reported from the mortar salvo or from Syrian gunfire that hit several homes in Al-Joura and nearby Al-Dawra late Wednesday. Also shortly before midnight Wednesday, three of four percussion bombs tossed from the Syrian side of the border landed near civilian homes in the northern village of Buqaya in the border area of Wadi Khaled, causing no casualties or material damage.