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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Hezbollah and Syrian rebels fought deadly clashes overnight in east Lebanon, security sources told The Daily Star Sunday, in the first confrontation between the rivals on Lebanese soil.

The sources, who requested anonymity, said the fighting took place in Ain al-Jawzeh, 3 kilometers east of Baalbek, adding that the number of dead had yet to be determined.

One source told Reuters news agency that 15 people were killed in the fighting east of the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek but that the exact toll would not be clear until bodies could be retrieved from the area.

LBCI said 15 members of the Free Syrian Army had been killed in the clashes, with one from the ranks of Hezbollah. It said four members of the Lebanese resistance group were also wounded.

AlMayadeen TV said 17 members of the Syria’s Nusra Front were killed in the clashes. It said the rebels were preparing rocket launchers at the time.

Sunday Morning saw heightened activity by Israel’s air force over east Lebanon, with low-altitude flights spotted over Baalbek. The National News Agency said warplanes also flew over the eastern Bekaa Valley, south Lebanon and the Lebanese capital.

The overnight fighting in the district of Baalbek, the first of its kind, comes after Syrian rebels threatened Hezbollah last week they would target the Lebanese group over its military involvement in Syria.

Syrian government forces backed by Hezbollah have been waging battles since May 19 against the Syrian rebel-held town of Qusair, which lies near the border with Lebanon.

Lebanon has seen a rise in the number of security incidents linked to the crisis in Syria, including a renewed round of clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the north of the country and almost daily rocket attacks from the Syrian side of the border.

On Saturday, over a dozen rockets from the Syria fell in different parts of east Lebanon.

Three Syrian rockets also hit the Bekaa Valley city of Hermel Sunday morning, leaving no casualties, a security source told The Daily Star.(The Daily Star)