Lebanese and Syrian armies say they have been communicating to ease the escalating border violence.

At least seven people have been killed and 52 wounded in clashes on the border with Syria, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health says.

Monday’s violence came after skirmishes over the weekend killed three Syrian soldiers. Syria says the soldiers were taken into Lebanon and killed. Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morkos said the defense minister told a Cabinet meeting that the three killed were smugglers.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced on Monday that he ordered the army to respond to violence at the northern and eastern borders with Syria.

According to a statement by the president’s office, Aoun said Lebanon “would not allow” the clashes along the border to continue.

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar reporting from Damascus says 10 Syrian soldiers have been killed in the clashes so far.

Damascus has blamed the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah for the clashes, and military officials from the two countries are reported to be in communication in a bid to avert the risk of an expansion of the violence.

Syrian state media, quoting unnamed officials, said the Syrian army shelled “Hezbollah gatherings that killed the Syrian soldiers” along the border overnight.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the seizure and killing of the Syrian soldiers on Saturday.

Senior Hezbollah legislator Hussein Haj Hassan, in an interview with Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV, accused fighters from the Syrian side of crossing into Lebanese territory and attacking border villages.

In a statement to the official National News Agency, Lebanon’s national army command confirmed the fighting on Monday and said it had sent reinforcements to “control the security situation”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based war monitor, said in unconfirmed reports that Lebanese armed groups were involved in the fighting.

Lebanon’s military said large numbers of Lebanese soldiers have been deployed in the area.

Lebanese media reported low-level fighting at dawn after an attack on a Syrian military vehicle.

Four journalists embedded with the Syrian army were lightly wounded early on Monday when an artillery shell fired from the Lebanese side of the border hit their position. They accused Hezbollah of launching the attack.

Accusations

It has not been confirmed which Lebanese groups are involved in the fighting.

The interim Syrian government accused Hezbollah of crossing into Syria on Saturday, seizing three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil.

Violence has recently spiked in the area between the Syrian military and armed Lebanese clans allied with the regime of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Last week, a spasm of violence saw a large death toll among al-Assad loyalists and civilians from the Alawite community inside Syria.

Lebanese media reports said the clans were also involved in the seizure of the Syrian soldiers.

The Lebanese and Syrian armies said they have been communicating with each other to ease the border tensions. The Lebanese military said it delivered the bodies of the three soldiers to Syria.

There are reports that the eruption of overnight clashes and shelling have sent civilians in the border areas fleeing towards Hermel, Syria.

The Lebanon-Syria border spans 375km (233 miles) and features rugged terrain with no clear demarcation in many areas.

Lebanon has been seeking international support to boost funding for its military as it gradually deploys troops along its porous northern and eastern borders with Syria and along its southern border with Israel.

In the meantime, Lebanese authorities confirmed on Monday that two people had been killed in an Israeli strike in the southern town of Yohmor.

Several more strikes have since been reported across the region although the Israeli military did not give a location of the latest attacks. It said it had struck “military sites of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah”.