Syrian violence spills into Jordan, Lebanon

Associated Press

BEIRUT

A Jordanian soldier was killed in clashes with armed militants trying to cross the border into Syria on Monday, and sectarian clashes overnight in Lebanon left four dead as Syria’s civil war spilled into neighboring countries.

Jordanian Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah said the soldier was the first member of the country’s military to be killed in violence related to Syria’s civil war. He died in clashes with militants trying to illegally enter Syria to join rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime. Maaytah did not say whether the militants were Jordanians or foreign fighters trying to jump into the fray in the neighboring country.

A statement by the Jordanian military said the soldier was killed in a shootout with a group of eight suspected militants armed with pistols and machine guns. Jordanian troops detained the suspected gunmen, and authorities are questioning them, the statement said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner blamed Syria, saying “the onus for this kind of violence rests squarely on the Assad regime.”