Turkey returns fire to Syria

Turkey's military chief has said the country will respond with greater force if Syrian cross-border shelling continues, Reuters reported, citing state television.

Turkey has returned fire after mortar shells from Syria landed in the country's Haytay Province. It is the sixth consecutive day of Turkish retaliation. The round from Syria landed around 200 metres within Turkey's border at around 1pm UK time.

A car bomb has blown up near police headquarters in central Damascus, a Syrian official said.

Turkish artillery fired towards Syria for a fifth day in a row today, minutes after a Syrian shell landed on Turkish territory.

A Syrian shell landed 200 metres inside Turkey, near the border town of Akcakale. Town mayor Abdulhakim Ayhan said that Turkish artillery immediately returned fire.

For a fifth day Turkey has returned fire over the Syrian border after shelling.

Another shell has been fired from Syria and landed in Turkey. The shell hit near the Turkish town of Akcakale, no casualties have been reported according to Turkish broadcasters.

Turkish artillery returned fire at Syria for fifth day.

Witnesses say Syrian rebels have taken control of a Syrian military outpost near the Turkish border province of Hatay, Reuters are reporting.

Syria's President Assad laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Damascus today to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Middle East war.

State television showed Assad laying a wreath at the monument at Mount Kassioun on the outskirts of the capital.

Syria's President Bashar al Assad made a rare public appearance today to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier on the anniversary of the 1973 Middle East war.

Another mortar shell from Syria struck Turkish territory, prompting a fourth straight day of retaliatory artillery fire, and reviving fears that the crisis in Syria could spiral into a regional conflict.

The mortar landed in a rural area near the village of Guvecci, early today, just minutes after intense fighting broke out across the border in Syria's Idlib province, between Syrian rebels and the forces of president Bashar Assad's regime, the private Dogan news agency reported.

No one was hurt by the mortar, which landed some 50 yards inside Turkish soil and some 700 yards away from the village, said a statement from the office of the governor for Turkey's border province of Hatay. An army unit based near Guvecci promptly responded, firing four 81-mm mortars, it said.