Turkey states Syrian peace initiative dead after Syrian troops fire across border
Turkey declared a UN-backed initiative to end the crisis in Syria was dead yesterday after Bashar al-Assad’s troops opened fire into Turkey and Lebanon.
By Adrian Blomfield
TelegraphUK
09 Apr 2012
The unprecedented cross-border battles, which claimed the lives of two Syrian refugees and a Lebanese reporter, came just hours before a ceasefire deadline came into force.
The Turkish government, which has already threatened to take military action to protect its border, summoned Syria’s envoy to Ankara to demand an official explanation.
According to Turkish officials, Syrian troops pursued rebels across the border following an attack on a checkpoint that killed six soldiers. Two Syrian nationals, described as civilian, were subsequently shot dead as they tried to escape to the nearby Killis refugee camp.
It was unclear whether the two victims had already crossed the frontier but five more people – including a Turkish policeman – were later shot and wounded, this time indisputably on Turkish soil.
Shortly afterwards, Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed Television network said that one of its cameramen, Ali Shabaan, died after Syrian troops opened fire on his car on the Lebanese side of the border. A colleague in the same vehicle was wounded.
The Rest…HERE
