BEIRUT — Syrian rebels killed 10 Lebanese troops and probably captured more than a dozen more in a raid on a Lebanese border town, Lebanon’s military chief said, the most serious spillover of violence into the tiny country from its neighbor’s civil war.
The capture of Lebanese soldiers and police raised fears that the country could become further entangled in the Syrian civil war and could worsen sectarian tensions.
‘‘What happened today is more serious than what some people imagine,’’ Lebanon’s army chief, General Jean Kahwaji, told journalists.
As fighting raged Sunday, some residents tried to flee from the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, home to 40,000 residents and 120,000 Syrian refugees. The attack began Saturday as Syrian rebels made a cross-border raid into Arsal, some 55 miles from the capital, Beirut. The clashes continued into Sunday around the municipal building and an army checkpoint, Lebanon’s state news agency reported.
The raid came hours after the army said troops detained Syrian Imad Ahmad Jomaa, who identified himself as a member of the Nusra Front. The state-run National News Agency said Jomaa was detained as he was being taken to a hospital in Lebanon after being wounded while fighting Syrian troops.