BEIRUT: Syria has “expressed regret” to Lebanon for repeated incursions into its territory that left at least one Lebanese dead, following the official confirmation that its army had mined its side of the border.

President Michel Sleiman said Wednesday that Syrian officials had been in contact and promised to respect Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty. “Syria expressed regret for the unintended violations,” Sleiman said in remarks published by Al-Liwaa newspaper.

The president also confirmed that mines had been planted along the Syrian side of its border with Lebanon.

“Syria fully fulfilled its promises to respect Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty and planted mines along the border to prevent infiltration and smuggling,” Sleiman said.

A source close to Sleiman’s office told The Daily Star that senior Lebanese and Syrian officials had formed a follow-up committee to discuss recent alleged incursions into Lebanon.

During the meeting, Syrian representatives “offered an explanation” over military operations that had entered Lebanese territory, according to the source. Lebanese officials expressed the hope that coordination between the two state armies would be increased in order to avoid a repeat of incursions, it added.

A senior diplomatic source said that the lack of border demarcation could have contributed to several of Syria’s frontier raids. “Not to defend Syria, but its troops probably don’t know when they are entering Lebanon. Maps belonging to both armies differ,” the source told The Daily Star.

The Syrian Army has crossed into Lebanon on several occasions as authorities in Damascus continue their prolonged crackdown against pro-democracy protesters. The military insists it had been pursuing “dissidents” in cross-border raids that have left three Syrian nationals in Lebanon dead.

The United States has strongly condemned the frontier crossings and countries from around the world have spoken out against a security operation that the U.N. estimates has left 3,500 people dead across Syria since March.

Officials in north Lebanon previously alleged that the Syrian Army planted land mines along parts of the border. Since neither Lebanon nor Syria is a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty outlawing land mine use, the action cannot be construed as illegal.

Ongoing violence has led over 5,000 Syrians to seek refuge in Lebanon. Syria has accused some groups in Lebanon of smuggling arms across the border to aid what authorities say are extremist anti-government factions.

Security forces in Beirut have come under attack over the alleged kidnapping of several Syrian opposition figures in Lebanon. Although Prime Minister Najib Mikati admitted last week that Syrian nationals had disappeared on Lebanese soil, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Wednesday that there was still no accurate information on the reasons behind their vanishing.

“There are some Syrians who fled to Lebanon and some others have been arrested in Syria,” Mansour told a local radio station.

A host of political heads have waded into the debate surrounding kidnappings in Lebanon since Internal Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi alleged his officers had uncovered proof that members of the Syrian Embassy in Beirut had played a role in abductions.

In his weekly column in Al-Anbaa magazine, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt asked if Lebanon was returning to “a certain hegemonic period of time that is bad to remember,” in reference to the days of Syrian military presence in Lebanon that saw several critics of Damascus kidnapped or assassinated.

Lebanese Forces issued a statement Wednesday alleging that State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza had obstructed the probe into the kidnapping of Syrians in Lebanon.

“[Mirza] does not want to hear [us] because he knows that kidnappings of Syrian opposition members have occurred in Lebanon,” the party said. “He is covering them up and preventing investigations from taking place.”

A Syrian opposition group urged the government to take steps to prevent further kidnappings, expressing concern over the safety of critics of President Bashar Assad in Lebanon. “The Council is very worried that opposition members are being handed over to the Syrian security services and as such risk death,” the Syrian National Council said in a statement.