Syria has denied allegations that it is planning to send troops back to Lebanon, three years after it withdrew its army from its neighbour Lebanese military official had claimed on Tuesday that the Syrian army had moved 8,000 troops close to the shared border.
The state-owned Syrian daily al-Thawra confirmed on Wednesday that in the past few days a large number of Syrian troops had been deployed to the border area - but that the deployment was intended to counter smuggling.
Anti-Syrian supporters of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora have recently warned of a Syrian return to the country, with the recent sectarian clashes in the northern city of Tripoli serving as a pretext. Syrian troops had occupied Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war, withdrawing only under heavy pressure from anti-Syrian elements in 2005.