Turkey scrambles F-16 jets on Syria border

Turkey has scrambled six F-16 fighters jets near its border with Syria after Syrian helicopters came close to the border, the country's army says.

Six jets were sent to the area in response to three such incidents on Saturday, the statement said. There was no border violation, the Reuters news agency quoted the statement saying.

Last month, Syrian forces shot down a Turkish jet in the border area.

The incident further strained already tense relations between former allies.

Turkey has strongly criticised Syria's response to the 16-month anti-government uprising, which has seen more than 30,000 Syrian refugees enter Turkey.

On Friday, Turkey said it had begun deploying rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns along the border in response to the downing of its F-4 Phantom jet on 22 June.

The move came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey had changed its rules of military engagement and would now treat any Syrian military approaching the border as a threat.

Syria said the Turkish F-4 was shot down by air defence fire inside its airspace. Turkey insists it was downed by a missile after briefly entering Syrian airspace

Four of the six jets were scrambled from the air base of Incirlik in response to Syrian helicopters flying close to the Turkish province of Hatay, Reuters quoted Sunday's army statement as saying.

Two more F-16s took off from a base in Batman after Syrian helicopters were spotted close to the province of Mardin, it added.

The military said the helicopters flew as close as four miles (6.5km) to the border, according to the AP news agency.