Syria hands over Lebanese fighter captured in ambush by Assad's troops

DAMASCUS, Syria – State-run TV in Damascus says authorities have handed over to Beirut a Lebanese fighter captured inside Syria in an ambush by government troops.

The TV says Hassane Serour was handed over to Lebanese officials on Thursday.

Serour had been in held in Syria since Nov. 30, when a group of Lebanese fighters were ambushed by Syrian troops shortly after crossing the border to join the rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Lebanese officials said at the time that 17 gunmen were killed in the ambush.

Lebanon is sharply split along sectarian lines, and Syria's civil war has exacerbated those divisions among supporters and opponents of Assad.

The divisions are a legacy of the nearly three decades when Damascus all but ruled Lebanon until withdrawing troops in 2005.