By Wassim Saif al-Din

BEIRUT

At least one Syrian child was killed and another two injured after a boat carrying Syrian refugees sank off Lebanon’s northern Akkar shore.

Lebanese naval forces alongside the Red Cross on Saturday rescued 28 Syrian nationals whose boat sank while they were attempting to “irregularly” leave Lebanon, security sources told Anadolu Agency anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

According to the sources, they were heading to Cyprus.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. This led to a military conflict between the Syrian opposition groups and the Assad regime over the war-torn country’s territory.