Shelling resumes at Turkish-Syrian border - reports

 

Turkish soldiers walk as they stand guard on the Turkish-Syrian border near the Akcakale border crossing, southern Sanliurfa province, October 5, 2012 (Reuters)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/turkey-return-fire-syria-771/

The Turkish military reportedly fired at Syria on Saturday morning in response to mortars from Syria landing near a Turkish farm. If follows a similar incident on Friday.

­Two mortar shells landed in rural areas near the village of Guvecci in the early morning and at midday.

The exchange occurred near the village of Guvecci in Hatay province according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency.

“It is assessed that the shell was fired by Syrian Arab Republic security forces at opposition forces along the border," the Hatay governor's office said in a statement on its website said.

Earlier on Friday afternoon a mortar shell fell near the town of Yayladagi, some 50 meters away from the Syrian border. The Turkish army immediately “fired back at targets” within Syria, Turkish media report quoting officials.

No injuries were reported in Turkey from either incident.

At the same time RT’s correspondent Paula Slier reports that the shelling of Turkish territory is done from a Syrian region controlled by rebel forces, which prompts some observers to speculate that the rebels are trying to provoke their ally Turkey into a military intervention against the government of Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that after hours of fights rebels had attacked army positions in the Syrian villages of Khirbet al-Jouz and Darkoush, some 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Guvecci.

The organization reports 25 soldiers and three rebels were killed.

"After seizing the village, the rebels raised the revolutionary flag over a former army checkpoint in the area," AFP quotes the Observatory's chief Rami Abdul-Rahman as saying.