Terror suspect slain on border

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DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian security forces have killed an Arab who was trying to illegally cross into neighboring Lebanon with other terror suspects, Syria's official news agency reported yesterday.

Two soldiers also were killed in the clash that erupted after the Arab man opened fire on a Syrian border patrol, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency. No details were provided on the nationality of the slain man, who was identified only by his initials M.Z. The report did not specify when or where along the border with Lebanon the clash occurred.

Thirty-four suspects were arrested after the clash, SANA said.

Syrian officials were not available for comment.

Security forces searched an isolated house near the border purportedly used by the group and found passports, identity cards and photocopies of personal documents revealing various nationalities, SANA said.

Damascus has been under pressure to crack down on terror suspects who Washington and Baghdad say are using Syrian territory to infiltrate into neighboring Iraq to fight coalition forces.

Last month, Syrian forces raided the hideout of a group of terror suspects near Damascus, killing two and purportedly foiling bombing plots. A Syrian security force member was killed in the clash.

Security forces had been monitoring the previously unknown group, calling itself Jund al-Sham for Jihad and Tawhid, for several months and broke it up as it reportedly was planning to carry out bomb attacks to destabilize security in Damascus and its suburbs.

During the raid last month in the Daff al-Shouk suburb of Damascus, Syrian forces seized documents saying the group should fight its holy war, or jihad, in Middle East countries that are run by "despotic regimes," including Syria; "Christian Maronite" Lebanon, where the president is a Maronite Catholic; and the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan.

The documents said that next on the group's list should be the "dictators" of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq, whose "people have been afflicted by the crusaders."

Terrorist attacks are rare in this tightly controlled Arab country run by the Syrian arm of the Ba'ath Party, which has used heavy-handed tactics to crack down against any form of dissent or instability.