BEIRUT: Eyewitnesses said that at least two Lebanese and one Syrian who were reported missing on Lebanon’s northeastern border with Syria between the Akkar towns of Mashta Hassan and Mashta Hammoud Sunday were shot dead by the Syrian army.

According to the National News Agency, tensions ran high on the Lebanese side of the border following the news of the killing of the two Lebanese, reports which were still unconfirmed Sunday night.

Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to Beirut Ghadanfar Roknabadi called on the Lebanese government to investigate a recent report that five Iranian engineers who were kidnapped in Syria last month were taken to Lebanon.

“We have heard this news and we ask the Lebanese government to investigate the matter,” Roknabadi told An-Nahar over the weekend in reference to a report made by Iran’s Press TV.

Press TV reported over the weekend that a member of a tribe in north Lebanon said that the five Iranians were taken into Lebanon.

Akkar MP Moeen Merabi described the report as false and said it was aimed at tarnishing the image of north Lebanon. “The Lebanese Army is responsible for the deteriorating security at the Lebanese-Syrian border because of their decision to restrict the media’s access to the area,” Merabi told The Daily Star Sunday.

“I fear this fabricated report ... could lead to a major security operation against the residents in Akkar who have been standing in solidarity with the Syrian protesters,” Merabi said.

According to Merabi, the situation in the north and especially Akkar would be clearer if the army allowed journalists access.

“Iran and its allies in Lebanon are doing what they can to try to portray Akkar as a region outside the state ... but when journalists come here, they will see that residents are being targeted by the Syrian army every day and there are no militias or armed groups whatsoever,” he added.

The families of the missing told the NNA that they lost contact with them Sunday morning. “The residents and the family members from the towns of Mashta Hassan and Mashta Hammoud did not have more information regarding the fate of the missing Lebanese,” the NNA said.

Mashta Hassan and Mashta Hammoud are two border towns facing the Syrian town of Talkalakh.

Also in Akkar, a 10-year-old Syrian boy was hospitalized Sunday while fleeing into Lebanon. “An injured 10-year-old child was brought into Lebanon and quickly transferred into Tripoli Public Hospital,” said the NNA.

For the past several months, waves of Syrians have fled to Lebanese territories through the illegal crossings situated along the northeastern border with Syria.

Separately, Marjayoun MP Ali Fayyad called on the government Sunday to control the northern border to end the ongoing smuggling of weapons, warning that the border has been penetrated by several armed groups.

The Syrian government has also said that Lebanese parties and radical groups are smuggling arms across the porous border to aid the Syrian opposition.

“Some of the statements made by some Lebanese politicians have become a political cover for the ongoing border crossings. This is why the government should take serious and effective steps,” said Fayyad, a Hezbollah official.

Fayyad, who was speaking during an inauguration ceremony of a new municipality building in the Marjayoun town, also said that making statements on controlling the border was not enough, “because if the situation on the border continues to deteriorate, it might have negative repercussions on Lebanon.”

“Handling these challenges in a serious way is a fundamental Lebanese interest and neglecting them is not acceptable,” he added.