Syria thwarts Turkish, Lebanese attacks

DAMASCUS, Syria, June 7 (UPI) -- Syrian forces thwarted militant groups attempting to infiltrate the country from neighboring Lebanon and Turkey, Syrian state media reports.

Provincial sources in Homs were cited by the official Syrian Arab News Agency as saying authorities there repelled an attack from a group trying to enter the country from Lebanon.

The report states that Syrian forces wounded a number of militants, forcing the fighters to retreat to Lebanon.

The crisis in Syria, entering its second year, threatened to engulf Lebanon last month as pro- and anti-Syrian elements clashed near the shared border. Damascus held considerable influence over affairs in Beirut before the Lebanese revolution in 2005.

SANA reported a separate attack was thwarted from Turkish militants near Idlib province overnight.

The report from SANA came is U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed a global counter-terrorism conference in Istanbul.

Clinton delivered a statement to a Friends of Syria meeting in Washington saying it was time to adhere to a peace plan laid out by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"The (Syrian) regime must end the atrocities, comply with all its commitments under the Annan plan, and allow the transition to a democratic Syria to begin," her statement read.

U.S. officials at the Washington meeting said it may be time to consider a Chapter VII resolution against Syria, which would authorize the use of force.