Syria’s conflict spilled further into Lebanon on Saturday, July 7, when mortar fire from President Bashar Assad’s forces hit villages in the north, killing five people after rebels crossed the border to seek refuge, residents said, Reuters reported. In the village of al-Mahatta, a house was destroyed, killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding a two-year old and a four-year old. A 25-year-old woman and a man were killed in nearby villages, and two more people were killed in the village of Hishe, which straddles a river demarcating the border, when two rocket-propelled grenades fired from within Syria hit their tent, according to local residents. Rebels fighting to unseat Assad have used north Lebanon as a base and his forces have at times bombed villages and even pursued insurgents over the border, threatening to stoke tension in Lebanon, whose sectarian rifts mirror those in Syria.