Turkish troops returned fire after coming under attack along the Syrian border overnight as more than 1,000 alleged smugglers, including 150 on horseback, tried to cross into Turkey from Syria, the military said.The incident on Turkey's long Syria frontier, where tensions have been on the rise over the past couple of months, follows a string of similar confrontations between Turkish soldiers and hundreds of people described by the military as smugglers. The clashes in Turkey's Hatay province, where smuggling of fuel and other goods has continued for years, have raised questions about their increase in recent months and about why smugglers would operate in such large numbers.
| The soap factory closed due to the civil war, sending all the workers home. But the family still needs to eat, so one does what one can... and does it with those who have money to spend, which isn't any of the neighbors. |
| Smugglers operate where people have needs and the regular markets have failed. Works for soap and works for ammo... |
Syrian refugees fleeing from the civil war in their homeland often cross over the porous frontier in large numbers and Turkish officials have conceded smugglers sometimes intermingle with the refugees to use them as cover.
The military said it spotted 750-1,000 people on foot, a separate group of 150 people on horseback, and some 40 vehicles forming a line around 300 metres (yards) along the border near the Turkish village of Kusakli in Hatay's Reyhanli district. The troops deployed armoured vehicles and a tank along the frontier to block the group from crossing and issued warnings in Turkish and Arabic to try to keep them back, the military said.
Despite the warnings, the groups continued to approach the border with the "attempt to engage in smuggling".
| "Attempt to engage in smuggling"? What on earth does that mean? |
Following the army's warning shots, the smugglers left the area and 35 containers of petrol were found, the military said.