Turkey returns fire 'after fresh Syria shelling'
6 October BBC
Turkey's military has returned fire across the border after a Syrian
mortar round again landed on Turkish soil, television channels say. The
incident happened in southern Hatay province on Friday afternoon,
Turkish media said. No injuries were reported. On Wednesday Syrian
mortar fire killed five Turkish civilians in the town of Akcakale.
That prompted Turkey to return fire and its parliament to authorise
military action inside Syria. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had
warned Syria earlier on Friday at a large rally in Istanbul that the
countries were "not far" from war. Although he has insisted the
parliamentary vote was only a deterrent and that Turkey would not start
a war, he said at the rally: "Those who attempt to test Turkey's
deterrence, its decisiveness, its capacity, I say here they are making a
fatal mistake."
On Friday, Turkey moved tanks and anti-aircraft missiles into
Akcakale and a Turkish foreign ministry official told Associated Press
that Syria had pulled tanks and other material away from the border.
Turkish NTV channel said Syria had ordered warplanes and helicopters not
to enter within 10km (six miles) of the Turkish border, but Damascus has
made no comment on this. Friday's shelling incident reportedly took
place near the Turkish town of Altinozu in Hatay province, much further
west, at about 16:30 GMT. The governor of Hatay province, Celalettin
Lekesiz, was quoted by the Anadolu agency as saying that Turkish troops
"responded with fire" after a mortar round landed in a rural area.
Although there were no reports of fresh cross-border clashes in
Akcakale, the situation there remains tense. One resident of Oncul,
close to Akcakale, told AP: "Our store owners, our citizens and our
children are all very concerned. We did not sleep until morning." On
Thursday, the UN Security Council said the Akcakale shelling - which is
believed to have been an accident - underscored the grave impact the
Syrian crisis was having on "regional peace and stability". Two women
and three children were killed.
Turkey's parliamentary vote authorised troops to launch cross-border
operations against Syria and strike at Syrian targets for a period of
one year. Turkey's retaliatory fire is its first since the uprising
against President Bashar al-Assad's government began 18 months ago.
Clashes between government forces and rebels continued across Syria on
Friday. The city of Homs was subjected to its most severe bombardment in
five months, activists said.
They also reported fierce clashes in the second city Aleppo, and
government shelling in the capital Damascus, Hama and Idlib. Activists
also posted videos online which they said showed a military aircraft
being shot down by rebel fighters as it bombarded towns in the eastern
Ghouta area. It was unclear whether it was a helicopter or fighter jet.
According to activists, more than 30,000 people have been killed since
the uprising against President Assad began. The UN estimates that at
least 20,000 have died.
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