The new Syrian government imposed restrictions on Lebanese crossing their shared border into the Syriaa Lebanese security official and a Syrian official said today.

The restrictions, which come as Lebanon seeks better relations with its neighbor under new rulers, mean Lebanese who do not reside or have family inside Syria will not be able to cross the borderthe Lebanese security official said, although he stressed that some exceptions were made for those with other business activities inside Syria.

The Lebanese official described the measures as “temporarily” and said it was the result of a dispute between the two sides over the apparent mistreatment by Lebanese authorities of Syrians entering or leaving Lebanon.

Lebanon’s interior minister, who is in charge of border crossings, could not be reached for comment.

The Lebanese army in a separate statement said that five soldiers were injured in fighting between soldiers and unidentified Syrians as the army tried to close an illegal crossing point near Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon.

There are believed to be dozens of unofficial crossings along the inaccessible, impassable 370km border between the two countries.

Lebanon has said it is looking forward to better neighborly relations with Syria after rebels forced Bashar al-Assad to step down on December 8, opening a new chapter in the often tense relationship that has existed since the two countries became independent states in the 1940s.

The Shia Islamist group Hezbollah Iran-backed Lebanon played a major role in supporting Assad during Syria’s civil war, fighting the Sunni Islamist rebels who eventually toppled him last month and installed a new government in Damascus.

Before that the Syrian state led by the Assad dynasty ruled Lebanon for 15 years after the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, effectively controlling Lebanese politics until 2005, an influence it opposed many Lebanese, although others applauded Syria’s role.

The assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in Beirut in 2005 sparked mass protests in Lebanon and pressure from the West that forced Syria to withdraw from its neighbor.

An initial international investigation indicated that figures from Syria and Lebanon were involved in the assassination.

While Syria has denied involvement, Syria’s former vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam stated that Assad had threatened Hariri months before, a claim that Assad denied.

Fifteen years later, a United Nations tribunal convicted three Hezbollah members in absentia of Hariri’s murder. Hezbollah has denied any role in the assassination.