Updated on
Summary A Syrian/Turkish border gate closed as rebels say they have taken control of gate on Syrian side.
A key commercial Syrian border crossing with Turkey has closed on Thursday (July 19) because fighting was raging on the Syrian side.Cilvegozu is on the other side of Bab al Hawa, the northern frontier gate, which Syrian rebels say they took over on Thursday.A Syrian rebel fighter and a opposition spokesman said militants seized control of the customs and immigration buildings in Bab al Hawa which they had been battling for 10 days adding that they ousted Syrian soldiers after heavy fighting.Smoke could be seen from the Turkish side and one truck driver said it was impossible to cross over because of the fighting in Syria.The border crossing at Turkish Cilvegozu gate in Hatay province was closed after the attack and around 40 Syrian and Saudi trucks lined up on the Turkish side.While cross-border trade and traffic has been greatly reduced as violence inside Syria has increased, border gates along the 910-km (560-mile) Turkey-Syria border have largely remained open and vehicles have been free to cross.Nobody goes in and gets out anymore because of the clashes. Due to the latest developments on custom relations between the country and the ongoing clashes crossings have stopped, said truck driver Ali Aksanli.Meanwhile several wounded Syrians were brought to Reyhanli state hospital as activists said they were wounded during clashes at Bab al-Hawa.The border raids came as rebels clashed with troops loyal to Assad in Damascus and a day after a bomb attack on a security meeting in the Syrian capital killed three of the presidents closest allies.Turkey, which has called on Assad to step down, is giving sanctuary to opposition members and fighters on its soil and is providing shelter to more than 40,000 Syrian refugees fleeing violence at home.The reported seizure of Bab al-Hawa, opposite the Turkish Cilvegozu gate in Hatay province, comes after the rebels said they were forced to withdraw earlier on Thursday after they attacked the gate, guarded by some 200 troops, but had to pull back when government helicopters were called in.Latest reports late on Thursday were that the rebels still had control of the crossing.Activists also said they had taken the Jarablus crossing with Turkey, further east.Hakim al-Zamili, head of the security and defence committee in the Iraqi parliament, told a local television station that rebels were in control of the Abu Kamal border crossing, on the Damascus-Baghdad highway and one of the most important trade routes in the Middle East.
