BEIRUT: Washington has urged both the Syrian regime and rebels to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty after a Syrian helicopter bombed a smuggling route in a remote area near the Bekaa border town of Arsal Wednesday. “We call on all parties in the Syria conflict to respect the sovereignty of Lebanon,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters during a daily press briefing.

In response to a question, Nuland said that if the strike “is in fact confirmed by the Lebanese side, it would represent the latest and most egregious violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, coming just on the heels of the regime’s March rocket attacks into border areas of al-Qasr, Wadi Al- Khayel.” Nuland reiterated Washington’s longstanding commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701. A Syrian helicopter gunship fired two missiles Wednesday that hit a remote region known as Sraj al-Qaisar, on the outskirts of Arsal and only one kilometer away from a Lebanese Army checkpoint.

The targeted area is known to be a smuggling hub for goods meant to reach Syrian rebels, a senior town figure told The Daily Star. Also Wednesday, a Syrian tank fired two shells on an orchard on the fringes of the Bekaa border region of Masharih al-Qaa, killing seven sheep and wounding several others. Wednesday’s incidents were the latest in a series of Syrian violations of Lebanese sovereignty.