Syrian mortars kill children in Lebanon

Two girls died and 10 people were injured by Syrian mortar attacks on villages across the Lebanese border yesterday (Sunday), raising new concerns about the conflict spreading.

One of the dead children, an eight-year-old Bedouin, was a refugee who had fled to Lebanon with her parents to escape the conflict.

Farms up to 12 miles from the border were hit, in an area used by refugees, smugglers and fighters who cross into Syria.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad routinely kill people attempting to cross illegally and have occasionally chased rebels on to Lebanese territory. Gunfights have also broken out in Lebanese cities in recent weeks as tensions rise between pro- and anti-Assad residents.

But the long-range shelling of Lebanese targets from within Syria marks a departure.

Opposition monitors said that at least 60 people were killed yesterday in Syria, 19 of them soldiers, as the UN peace envoy, Kofi Annan, admitted in an interview with a French newspaper that attempts to find a political solution had failed. "The evidence shows that we have not succeeded," he said.

The UN monitoring mission announced that it would reduce its activities on the ground in Syria. The mission has been barely active for three weeks, since violence in the country increased to a level that made its job impossible.

Meanwhile, the city of Homs came under renewed bombardment and there was fighting in suburbs of the capital, Damascus. The Syrian army stepped up its attacks in the north-west of the country, where villages are in open revolt. Rebels have set up road blocks around the key city of Aleppo and the army is confined to barracks in many areas.

Opposition activists said they feared for families in the town of Khan Sheikhoun after the army seized control of the rebel stronghold in the northern Idlib province on Friday in an assault with helicopter gunships.

In a dramatic plea for help people in the town said all water and electricity had been cut and summary executions were being carried out.