U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has expressed serious concern over the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on the security and political situation in Lebanon. In his semi-annual report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, Ban condemned the violence along the Lebanese-Syrian border which has inflicted scores of casualties. “Such actions are not acceptable,” he said about the death of several Lebanese by gunfire from the Syrian side of the border. The latest casualty was al-Jadeed TV cameraman Ali Shaaban whose vehicle came under a salvo of gunfire in the Lebanese northern border area of Wadi Khaled. [Naharnet]