British violence monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released a statement Sunday, accusing Turkey of killing families “indiscriminately” as they were trying to cross the border.
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Since the beginning of the year, at least 60 people – all civilians – have been killed in fire by Turkish border guards, the Observatory said. Turkish officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Turkey, a major sponsor of groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has now closed its borders with Syria, but it also hosts nearly three million registered Syrian refugees, many living in camps.
The Islamic State jihadist group expelled Syrian regime troops Monday from the northern province of Raqqa in a lightning counter-offensive that killed 40 regime soldiers, a monitoring group said.
Turkey claims it has an open-border policy for Syrians, while Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Ankara closed the border in August 2015. Two others were killed in a helicopter crash, and one killed himself.
Government forces were now within seven kilometres of the IS-held airport at Tabqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“Our security forces are acting within a completely legal framework while intervening on border incidents and illegal crossing attempts”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said.
Damascus launched the offensive into Raqqa in early June with Russian air support.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-led coalition made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters, have pushed on Tabqa as well and are engaged in battles with IS close to the Turkish border as part of a bid to capture the IS hub of Manbij.
Both Russia and the USA, the co-sponsors of the Syria peace process, have tried to promote a settlement of the more than five-year conflict, but those efforts have stalled as fighting surges in Syria.
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It came as US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had read a memo from a group of frustrated diplomats urging strikes against the Syrian regime and found it “very good”. Russian Federation says the USA -backed rebels are legitimate targets if they don’t break off those ties.
