News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Thirty soldiers fighting rebels in Syria have given themselves up to Turkey.

They surrendered in Hatay Province, which has been shelled by Syria since Turkey became involved in the war.

It is thought they were initially captured by Free Syrian Army forces, who then took them over the border to Turkey where they will become either refugees or prisoners.

Turkey has been increasingly sucked into the Syrian conflict, deploying reinforcements to its border with the warring country and exchanging artillery fire with President Assad’s forces.

Police and soldiers guarding the border with are also helping Free Syrian Army fighters cross in the country to collect supplies.

The capitulation of the Syrian troops came on the fourth day of the so-called Syrian truce which was flouted by the regime’s air force which pounded the suburbs of Damascus.

There were also believed to be breaches by rebel forces.

A bomb exploded yesterday in Damascus killing ten and around 400 people are thought to have been killed throughout Syria since the truce began on Friday.

Each side has blamed the other for breaking the truce which was held in honour of a Muslim festival and was arranged by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

Brahimi said yesterday he was determined to renew efforts to strike peace, and added: “I am deeply disappointed that the parties failed to respect the call to suspend fighting.”

After meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, he voiced regret that the ceasefire had not worked better.

But he said there were no immediate plans for UN peace keepers to be deployed to Syria.

The Syrian army had warned that it would strike “remnants of terrorists with an iron fist” after they “repeatedly violated the cease-fire.”

The conflict has raged for 19 months and has already cost at least 32,000 lives.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition watchdog, 420 people have been killed since Friday.

Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed U.N. draft resolutions condemning Assad’s government for the violence.

Beijing has been keen to show it does not take sides in Syria and has urged the government there to talk to the opposition and take steps to meet demands for political change.

It has said a transitional government should be formed.

Big-power rifts have paralysed UN action over Syria, but Assad’s political and armed opponents are also deeply divided, a problem which their Western allies say has complicated efforts to provide greater support.

Syrian opposition figures, including Free Syrian Army commanders, started three days of talks in Istanbul on Monday in the latest attempt to unite the disparate groups.