2012 Syrian–Turkish border clashes
| Syrian–Turkish border clashes 2012-14 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Spillover of the Syrian Civil War | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
 Syria |
 Turkey |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
|
Abdullah Ayyoub |
Necdet Özel |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 12 soldiers killed (Turkish claim) 14 soldiers killed 23 soldiers wounded (Syrian opposition claim) |
5 civilians killed | ||||
As Syrian Arab Spring protests turned into an all-out civil war, the 1,600-kilometre-long (1,000 mi) Syrian–Turkish border became the scene of minor military clashes between the Turkish army and various factions in the war to the south.
One of the most serious of these occurred on 3 October 2012, when an artillery shell fired from Syria by the Syrian Army killed five and injured at least ten Turkish citizens in the border town of Akçakale in Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. The Turkish armed forces artillery units conducted saturation shelling of Syrian military posts.
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, Turkey, once an ally of Syria, has condemned Assad over the use of violent force against protesters and has requested his departure from office. In October 2011, Turkey began sheltering the Free Syrian Army, offering the group a safe zone and a base of operation. Together with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey has also provided the rebels with arms and other military equipment.
During the 5 December 2011, about 35 armed fighters tried to cross the border of Syria from Turkey, but were engaged by the Syrian border forces who were able to repel them back to Turkey. Once they were back on Turkish soil, the Turkish army allegedly picked them up in trucks and took care of the injured fighters. A further attempt happened during the night of 12 December, when 15 infiltrators tried again to cross the border. They were unsuccessful and two of them were killed by Syrian border patrols.
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Wikipedia