Turkey beats up Syrian refugees in 2 camps, sends SAM batteries to the border

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish security forces have used tear gas, batons and shots fired into the air to quell unrest at two camps housing Syrian refugees.

More than 43,000 Syrians have taken refuge in eight camps along Turkey's 566-mile (911-kilometer) border with Syria, but Sunday was the first time official media have reported violence among the refugees that required security forces to intervene.

The Anadolu agency says police used tear gas and batons against refugees who hurled stones at buildings and tried to leave a camp in Kilis province to protest insufficient food and water.

Anadolu said refugees fought over housing at another camp in neighboring Gaziantep province, leaving seven of them injured. Turkish security forces fired shots into the air to suppress the unrest, the agency said.

ISTANBUL (AFP) — Turkey sent batteries of ground-to-air missiles to the border with Syria on Sunday, media reports said, boosting its firepower as rebels in Syria seized several border posts.

As fighting raged in Damascus and Aleppo, rebels were said to have taken control of three crossing points on the border with Turkey, which is sheltering thousands of Syrians who have fled the conflict at home.

A train convoy carrying several batteries of missiles arrived in Mardin in southeastern Turkey and will be transferred to several army units deployed on the border, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Television footage showed at least five vehicles in the convoy were carrying air defence missiles, in the latest show of force by Syria's one-time ally which is now a fervent critic of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned last month after the downing of a military jet initially blamed on Damascus that it now regarded Syria as a "clear and imminent threat".

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