Syria said it has beenpracticing the “utmost degrees of self restraint” regarding not hitting the armed groups in the Lebanese territories, warning Lebanon that this attitude would "not go on".

As it noted that Syria has been practicing the “utmost degrees of self restraint” regarding not hitting the armed groups in the Lebanese territories, Damascus warned the Lebanese authorities that this attitude would “not go on to an unlimited end.”

Syrian foreign ministry said that during the last 36 hours, “large numbers of armed terrorist groups have infiltrated” the Syrian territories from Lebanon at al-Mathouma, Ain al-Shaara, al-Jousiya and Karyat in TalKalakh countryside.

It added that clashes between the militants and the Syrian army were still taking place, noting that a number of these militants were killed or injured and then evacuated into Lebanon.

"The crowds of those terrorist groups are still present inside the Lebanese territories, they are seen by the naked eye from the sites of our forces who are practicing the utmost degrees of self-restraint, hoping the Lebanese competent authorities exert their efforts to control its border with Syria,” the Ministry said in a cable sent to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, according to state news agency, SANA.

The Syrian foreign ministry stressed that the “Syrian Army is still practicing self-restraint in order to not hit the gatherings of the armed gangs inside Lebanon to prevent them from crossing into the Syrian territories”.
 “But this will not go to an unlimited end,” the ministry warned.