Turkey deploys anti-aircraft guns at Syria border

Turkey has warned Syria to keep its troops away from the countries' border or risk an armed response.

Turkey deployed anti-aircraft guns and other weapons alongside its border with Syria,state television reported today,days after the downing of a Turkish military jet by Syrian forces heightened the tensions between the two countries.

A small convoy of military trucks,towing anti-aircraft guns,entered into a military base near the border town of Yayladagi,TRT television footage showed. The television said several anti-aircraft guns have also been deployed elsewhere alongside the border.

Turkey has warned Syria to keep its troops away from the countries’ troubled border or risk an armed response.

A Syrian minister said yesterday his country’s forces may have mistaken the Turkish plane they shot down for an Israeli one.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi was quoted as telling Turkish news channel A Haber in a telephone interview yesterday that his country did “not want a crisis between Turkey and Syria.”

Al-Zoebi said Turkish and Israeli fighter jets were mostly US-made,which may have led the Syrian forces to mistake it for an Israeli jet.

The downing of the jet has aggravated tense ties between the two neighbors.

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Turkey has repeatedly called on Syria’s President Bashar Assad to step down as 33,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey,fleeing a government crackdown on a popular uprising.

The country is also hosting civilian opposition groups as well as members of the Free Syrian Army,which is fighting against the Syrian regime.