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Turkey strikes Syria again after mortar bomb falls in Hatay

05 October 2012 19:12 (UTC +04:00)

Hatay Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz told reporters on Friday that a mortar shell fell in AÅŸaÄŸÄ±pulluyazÄ± village of YayladaÄŸÄ± district, 50 meters away from the Syria border and Turkish army immediately â€œfired back at targetsâ€ within Syria. The governor said there were no causalities.

A Syrian shell struck a Turkish border town Wednesday and killed five civilians. Turkey retaliated with artillery strikes and warned Syria that it would not tolerate such a spillover again.

Turkish artillery bombarded Syrian military targets on Wednesday and Thursday in response, killing several Syrian soldiers, and the Turkish parliament has authorized cross-border military action in the event of further aggression.

A Turkish official said Syria has pulled tanks and other military equipment away from its border with Turkey following deadly cross-border shelling this week.

Turkeyâ€™s state-run news agency Anatolia also reported that Turkey fired back at Syria on Thursday night after another mortar shell fell in AltÄ±nÃ¶zÃ¼ district of Hatay.

The cross-border violence was the most serious so far in the conflict, now in its 19th month, and underscored how it could flare across the region.

Turkey, once an Assad ally and now a leading voice in cals for him to quit, shelters more than 90,000 Syrian refugees in camps on its territory and has allowed rebel army leaders sanctuary.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in the revolt against Assad, which began with peaceful street protests but is now a full-scale civil war also fought on sectarian lines.

Across the country about 180 people were killed in violence on Thursday, including 48 government soldiers, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.