BEIRUT: Interior Minister Marwan Charbel chaired a meeting Tuesday of a committee formed to control the tense border between Lebanon and Syria following a series of security incidents, including a recent attack by Syrian forces on three Lebanese fishermen in the north that led to the death of a teenager.The meeting, attended by senior military and security officials, including Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, director general of the Internal Security Forces, and Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, head of General Security, discussed some points related to the assessment of the committee’s performance, in addition to “reviewing some problems and incidents that are being dealt with by security forces as part of their mission on the major border crossings and along the common frontier,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

Agreement was reached to hold another meeting of the committee to discuss a report prepared by former State Minister Jean Ogassapian. The report was filed when he was head of a technical committee designed to draw up a comprehensive strategy to control the border and the amendments proposed by security agencies in order to approve them and refer them to the Cabinet, the NNA said.

The committee’s meeting came against the backdrop of repeated security incidents on the border, including Syrian incursions into Lebanese territory, prompting calls from the opposition March 14 parties for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the frontier to prevent what they said were repeated Syrian border violations.

The latest of these incidents happened on Jan. 21 when three Lebanese fishermen were kidnapped by Syrian security forces after a Syrian naval vessel crossed 3 kilometers into Lebanon’s territorial waters off the coast of the border town of Arida. One of the fishermen, a 17-year-old, was shot in the stomach and killed when Syrian forces fired in the direction of their fishing trawler, according to Arida residents.

The Arida incident has sparked calls from the Future Movement of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and its March 14 allies for the deployment of the Lebanese Army to protect Lebanese citizens living in border towns.

The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense since the popular upheaval in Syria began in March last year, with several incursions by the Syrian army, the killing of Lebanese citizens by Syrian security forces, and the firing at two fishing boats in August. Syrian officials have accused Lebanese factions of smuggling weapons to Syrian protesters demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

Last month, Charbel called for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the border and for the demarcation of the two countries’ boundaries in a bid to prevent infiltration and smuggling, in the first such call to be made by a member of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Hezbollah-controlled government.

The call came amid a heated debate that erupted in December after Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said that members of Al-Qaeda were infiltrating the Bekaa town of Arsal near the border with Syria under the guise of Syrian opposition activists. However, Ghosn’s claims have been denied by President Michel Sleiman, Mikati and Charbel.

The anti-Assad protests have sharply split the Lebanese. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have backed the Syrian regime, while the March 14 parties led by the Future Movement have come out in staunch support of protesters demanding Assad’s removal.

The Mikati government has tried to dissociate itself from the turmoil in Syria and has avoided deploying the army along the border with Syria despite a series of incidents, including Syrian incursions that led to the death of some Lebanese by Syrian gunfire.

Meanwhile, the Vice President of the Supreme Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, called Tuesday on the Syrian people to close ranks in order to confront “a conspiracy” facing their country.

“Syria is still subjected to an imperialist conspiracy that seeks to dismember it and spread strife among its people who have embodied national unity and common coexistence among their various segments,” Qabalan said in a statement.

He called on “the Syrian people to confront the conspiracy by unifying their ranks, renouncing elements of strife and adhering to the state project which embraces all the Syrians.”

In a speech last month, Assad vowed to defeat “foreign conspirators” plotting to end his 11-year rule. Syria has also rebuffed as a “conspiracy” an Arab League initiative last month that calls for Assad to step down.