Mortar shells fired from Syria fall in Turkey

HATAY – Anadolu Agency

The shells were reportedly fired from the Syrian town of Kasab, which regime forces are trying to recapture. DHA Photo

A number of mortar shells landed on March 23 in Turkey’s Hatay province, close to the Syrian border, as a result of a fight between Syrian opposition and regime forces for control of a border town, Anadolu Agency correspondents at the scene reported.The shells were reportedly fired from the Syrian town of Kasab, which regime forces are trying to recapture after it was seized by the opposition armed group the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on March 22.Three mortar shells landed in the Yayladağı district of Hatay.Turkish troops near the border retaliated by firing mortar shells, authorities said.Turkey and Syria share a border of more than 800 km. Tension between the two has escalated since the latter shot down a Syrian jet on March 23 after it crossed into Turkish airspace.The war between the Free Syrian Army and forces loyal to the embattled President Bashar al-Assad had been in an uneasy stalemate since late 2013. The civil war, which entered its fourth year last week, has claimed more than 140,000 lives, according to the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).