The southeastern Tunisian town of Ben Guerdane awoke yesterday morning to the news that three locals had been killed in Syria. The three young Tunisian men joined the ranks of Syrian opposition fighters in their uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, reported Tunisian daily Assabah.

The three victims were Bolababh Boklech, Walid Hilal, and Mohamed el-Jeri. They all traveled to Syria to join forces with the Free Syrian Army, which opposes the al-Assad regime, and were accompanied by two other Tunisians - one of whom never made it into Syria.

Middle East Panorama, a Lebanese news website, reported that four Tunisians had infiltrated Syria via Turkey, close to the border area of Bidama in Idlib, which has been a bastion of opposition against the al-Assad government since March 2011. The three Tunisians died during recent clashes with al-Assad's forces.

The fourth Tunisian was able to escape the battle zone between the Free Syrian Army and al-Assad's forces and subsequently returned to Turkey. The families of the victims wrote a letter to the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for the bodies of their sons to be repatriated.