France calls on Lebanon not to import Syrian conflict

“Lebanon must not import a conflict that is not its own,” said foreign affairs ministry official, Vincent Floreani in a statement.

Sunni Muslims opposing the Syrian regime have been fighting members of the minority Alawite sect who supports President Bashar al-Assad. In May and June 24 people were killed in similar sectarian clashes.

The dead in the latest fighting included a 13-year-old boy, while another 75 people have been wounded, including a boy of six who was paralysed by a gunshot wound and 15 soldiers, security sources said.

French President François Hollande insisted on Tuesday that France would play a leading role and trying to end the Syrian conflict and again called for Assad to quit.

Hollande was returning from a holiday during which the right-wing opposition accused him of neglecting a major international crisis.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault revealed that Paris is providing the Syrian opposition with “non-lethal” military aid, in a television interview Wednesday.