SYRIA/TURKEY: Turkey fires back after Syrian mortar fire crosses border

Record ID: 281549

  • Title: SYRIA/TURKEY: Turkey fires back after Syrian mortar fire crosses border
  • Date: 29th October 2012
  • Summary: HARAM, SYRIA (AS SEEN FROM TURKEY) (OCTOBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SYRIAN SIDE OF BORDER (AUDIO OF GUNFIRE) BESASLAN, TURKEY (OCTOBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) A VILLAGER STANDING NEXT TO A CRATER CAUSED BY THE SYRIAN MORTAR SHELL THE CRATER CAUSED BY A SYRIAN MORTAR SHELL (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) UNIDENTIFIED TURKISH VILLAGER SAYING: "I woke up with the first explosion
  • Embargoed: 13th November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Syrian Arab Republic
  • City:
  • Country: Turkey Syrian Arab Republic
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6HGVHKMUJUC6J49QXAJ6RRKFZ
  • Story Text: Turkish artillery fired into Syria on Monday (October 29) following an incident of cross border mortar bombing.
    No casualties were reported after the event, in Besaslan village in Turkey's southern Hatay province.
    A local villager said three shells landed in Turkish territory and that one of the shells passed near his house.
    "I woke up with the first explosion around 0630AM (0430GMT). We established where the shell landed. The shell passed nearby our house and ripped the wires and landed five metres away from our house.
    That is how the first explosion happened and while we were checking where the shell landed, a second shell landed 20-30 metres away. The third shell landed hundred metres away," he said.
    Turkey's state run Anadolu agency reported that one mortar round had fallen on Turkish soil and artillery brigades returned fire afterwards.
    Heavy machine-gun fire and the sound of mortar bombs was heard along the Turkey-Syrian border near the Syrian town of Haram, just across the border from Besaslan on Monday morning.
    It was not clear whether the firing came from the Syrian army or from rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    The bloodshed in Syria has worsened markedly in the past two months although neither side has been able to gain a distinct advantage, with government forces relying heavily on air power and artillery to batter the rebels.
    Tensions between Ankara, which has also sheltered Syrian rebels, and Damascus have been simmering of late after a shell fired by Syrian forces killed five civilians in a Turkish border town.
    Ankara has since retaliated repeatedly for further shelling and bombing from the Syrian side, the border area having seen heavy fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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