Syrian President Bashar Assad told al-Watan paper Wednesday (May 18th) that security officers who received inadequate training made mistakes handling the national uprising.

Thousands of police and security officials are now being re-trained, Assad said.

The admission follows incidents along the Syrian border with Lebanon where Syrians reported being attacked by the army in Talkalakh. At least 27 people were killed during clashes with security forces, according to the BBC.

Syrian activists called for a nationwide general strike on Wednesday, and urged schools and universities to close in protests against the regime's crackdown on protestors.