BEIRUT - Lebanon's interior minister said on Thursday that
refugees who have fled from the war in neighboring Syria have become a threat
to Lebanon's security because of the suspicion that many are in fact rebel
fighters.
Residents in northern Lebanon say that rebels pose as refugees
to cross the border, and are arming members of the refugee community in Lebanon
to fight in Syria. The minister, Marwan Charbel, has said Syrian rebels have set
up training camps in Lebanon.
In addition, members of the rebel Free
Syrian Army have used Lebanon's mountainous terrain to regroup before staging
attacks on the Syrian army across the poorly demarcated border.