( CNN ) -- Two Syrian jets fired three rockets that hit empty buildings near the Lebanese town of Arsal near the Syrian border Monday , a local source said . There were no injuries , according to the source . Also , Lebanese state-run news agency NNA reported that Syrian warplanes attacked sites in northern Lebanon . The government 's use of fighter jets to fire rockets into Lebanon is a `` significant escalation , '' U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday . The French Foreign Ministry in Lebanon issued a statement condemning the attacks . `` The aerial bombing carried out today by the armed forces of the Syrian regime on Lebanese territory , in the region of Ersal , is a new and serious violation of Lebanon 's sovereignty , '' the statement said . `` France strongly condemns this escalation and reiterates its commitment to Lebanon 's sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders . '' This latest violence comes as the Syrian conflict enters its third year . The unrest started in March 2011 when President Bashar al-Assad 's government launched a fierce crackdown on protesters . The discontent evolved into a full-blown civil war that has left more than 70,000 dead and more than 1 million refugees . Syria 's first lady makes rare appearance . One result of the warfare is the spillover of fighting and refugee displacement into neighboring countries such as Lebanon , Turkey , Jordan and Iraq . As for Lebanon , the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency also reported border flareups . Syrian armed forces and border guards have thwarted `` armed terrorist '' infiltrators attempting to get into the Homs countryside from Lebanon , SANA said , citing a development first reported last week . The news outlet also reported gunshots fired at Syrian border checkpoints from Lebanon . Syria 's Foreign and Expatriates Ministry accused the alleged terrorists of receiving `` clear logistic support from inside the Lebanese lands '' and ferrying their wounded and dead in ambulances across the Lebanese border . SANA quotes a source saying that security forces have killed and wounded fighters and forced them to retreat to Lebanon . Last Thursday , the U.N. Security Council voiced `` grave concern over repeated incidents of cross-border fire which caused death and injury among the Lebanese population , incursions , abductions and arms trafficking across the Lebanese-Syrian border , as well as other border violations . '' The declaration followed a briefing by officials on how the conflict in Syria has spilled into Lebanon . Other violence raged in Syria on Monday , with the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria recording at least 53 deaths . Arming the opposition . The United States and Western allies have staunchly opposed the Assad government , but it has balked at arming Syria 's rebels , who have been getting weapons from some Arab nations and seizing or buying them from Syrian soldiers . As the carnage continues , however , the West is taking a different tone . Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the United States would not hamper the arming of Syrian rebels by allies . `` President Obama has made it clear that the United States does not stand in the way of other countries that have made a decision to provide arms , '' he said . His comments , made at the State Department , come as Britain and France urge the European Union to lift the weapons embargo in order to arm moderate Syrian rebels . Kerry acknowledged the need to change the military `` imbalance '' on the ground in order to change al-Assad 's `` calculus . '' `` Right now , President Assad is receiving help from the Iranians , he 's receiving help from al Qaeda-related , some elements , he 's receiving help from Hezbollah , and obviously some help is coming in through the Russians . If he believes he can shoot it out , Syrians and the region have a problem and the world has a problem , '' he said . Last week , Syrian rebels told CNN that the United States is helping organize training for Syrian rebels in Jordan in the use of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons . Opposition selects leader . A Syrian opposition umbrella group , meeting in Istanbul , Turkey , has chosen a U.S.-educated Kurdish businessman to head its provisional government , an opposition activist who attended the vote said Monday . Ghassan Hitto , an information technology executive who went to college in Indiana and lived for many years in Dallas was elected Monday to lead a government whose specific role may be spelled out at a planned news conference Tuesday . Hitto was born in Damascus and is a member of the board of the Syrian American Council , the council said in a news release after the vote . The group said the decision should assuage the Obama administration 's concerns about who would lead Syria should President Bashar al-Assad be deposed . `` This question has now been answered , '' the council 's statement said . CNN 's Nick Paton Walsh , Joe Sterling , Elise Labott , Jason Hanna , Raja Razek , Yousuf Basil and Jim Kavanagh contributed to this report .
NEW : Rebels elect U.S.-educated Kurd to lead provisional government . We wo n't stand in the way of arming the opposition , the U.S. secretary of state says . Score: 6 Lebanese state-run news agency NNA reports an attack .