Syria crisis: 1,500 flee across border into Lebanon to escape Assad crackdown

Some 1,500 people, many of them women and children, have fled across the Syrian border to Lebanon escaping gunfire from President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Mahmood Khazaal, former mayor of the Lebanese border town of al-Buqaya, said 1,500 people had come on foot. Many crossed a river dividing the two countries because Syrian authorities had stopped them leaving through official border crossings.

It came as the Syrian government was forced to make a public denial of mutiny in its army as President Bashir al-Assad's hardline tactics against demonstrators come under pressure from within.

Growing reports in recent weeks of soldiers refusing to open fire on demonstrations have been followed by opposition claims of a gun-battle between the 4th and 5th divisions, both involved in putting down unrest in the southern city of Dera'a.

Although dismissed at first, the websites have begun to put out first-person accounts. Meanwhile, other activists abroad have reported that hundreds of members of the ruling Baath party have resigned in protest at the killings.

"We stress that this is a diversion from the truth," a military source told the state news agency SANA, adding that the reports of splits in the army were a "despicable" attempt by forces attempting to undermine the "fabric of Syrian society and the unity of the army". (read more)