Syrian rebels seize crossing on Turkish border

AKCAKALE, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian rebels seized their third border crossing with Turkey on Wednesday, a Turkish official said, after fierce overnight battles with government troops that sent bullets flying into Syria's northern neighbor.

Reuters television footage showed a rebel tearing down the Syrian flag on top of what appeared to be a customs building at the Tel Abyad frontier gate.

"I can confirm that the gate has fallen. It is under the complete control of the rebels," a Turkish official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Minutes earlier sporadic gunfire had echoed around the area and black smoke had risen from parts of the building.

Rebels could be seen celebrating on top of the customs building, with one firing his gun into the air. There was no sign of any government troops at the crossing.

The clashes, which started late on Tuesday, were the first time insurgents fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had tried to seize a border zone in Syria's al-Raqqa province, most of which has remained solidly pro-Assad.

Rebels hold two other crossings on the northern border with Turkey. A third will strengthen their control in the north and put more pressure on Assad's army as the two sides battle for control of Syria's largest city Aleppo, not far away.

The governor's office in the small town of Akcakale, on the Turkish side of the border post, ordered all schools in the town and the neighboring villages to close for the day and banned all agricultural work in the area.

"A heavy hail of bullets is landing here. We are scared. We had to stay in another house last night. We don't know what to do," a man in his 40s told CNN Turk television hours before the post was seized.

"Teachers, everyone, has left the school next to us, they have fled the area," he said, standing only meters (yards) from the border fence.

Some 300 Syrians fled across to the area around Akcakale to escape the fighting, the Turkish official said. Twenty-five rebels wounded during the clashes were also receiving medical treatment in Turkey.

IRAQI BORDER

Syrian jets bombed the Syrian town of Abu Kamal near the Iraqi border on Wednesday, Iraqi security officials and the mayor of the Iraqi frontier town of al-Qaim said. The towns are meters away from each other on the banks of the River Euphrates.

A Turkish woman and her daughter were wounded on Tuesday night by stray bullets, and an official said other bullets had smashed windows in several houses in Turkey along the border.

Ankara has yet to give a reaction to the fighting along its frontier but a similar incident earlier this year prompted a sharp rebuke.

In April, Turkey officially reported an incident to the United Nations in which at least five people, including two Turkish officials, were wounded when cross-border gunfire hit a Syrian refugee camp in Kilis, further west along the frontier.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan then floated the idea of invoking NATO's Article 5, which allows alliance members to use armed force if another member is attacked.

But a Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no such suggestion had been made following the latest border violation.

"The difference is that, under first impression, this was not specific targeting, although this incident is still serious," the official said.

Erdogan spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama late on Tuesday about Syria and other issues, his office said.

Once an ally of Assad, Erdogan is now among his most vocal critics and has called for him to step down. Turkey actively supports the anti-Assad rebellion, giving fighters sanctuary and allowing opposition members to meet in Turkish cities.

Tensions between the neighbors hit a peak on June 22, when Syrian forces shot down a Turkish military reconnaissance aircraft, killing two pilots.

Turkey's chief military prosecutor issued a statement on Wednesday saying an investigation supported earlier assertions by the military and the government that the jet had been downed by a missile in international airspace, not by anti-aircraft fire near the Syrian coast as Syria maintains.

Turkey is also sheltering more than 83,000 Syrians who have fled the violence in camps along the border.

The 18-month-old revolt, which began as peaceful street protests that Assad met with force of arms, has escalated into a civil war in which over 27,000 people have died. Daily death tolls now approach 200 and the last month was the bloodiest yet.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Yackley in Istanbul and Suadad al-Salhy in Baghdad; Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-seize-crossing-turkish-border-153139254.html

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