Lebanese supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad fired heavy machine guns and lobbed mortar shells at each other Thursday in some of the worst fighting in the port city of Tripoli in years.BAGHDAD – An al-Qaida group has claimed responsibility for last week’s killing of 48 Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqi guards in western Iraq.
The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant forums, says al-Qaida’s franchise in Iraq issued a statement on militant websites Monday claiming the attack.
The Syrian troops had sought refuge in northern Iraq during recent clashes and were being escorted back to Syria through a border crossing further south, in Iraq’s western Anbar province, when they were ambushed.
The attack suggested possible coordination between al-Qaida’s Iraq branch and its ideological allies in Syria who are fighting on the side of the rebels.
Syria’s conflict began with anti-regime protests in March 2011 and later spiraled into civil war. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed so far.
