[Picture from same article - copyright bbc.co.uk,
23/11/2012]
23.11.2012. From the edges of southern
Turkey, you can see the smoke of a single cigarette inside Syria. The Turkish
town of Ceylanpinar is around 50m away from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain. The
two countries are separated by a barbed wire fence.
On the Syrian side, two children pick up
bullet casings and clink them together. A group of opposition gunmen holds up
its rifles and grenades for spectators watching from Turkey.
For several days earlier this month the
Syrian army shelled Ras al-Ain to try to get rid of the rebels. Thousands of
the town's residents fled to Ceylanpinar. Syria's war is right next door. This
makes the Turkish state nervous.
On
the main road facing the border, Turkey has created a small buffer zone with a
roll of razor wire. Inside this zone, Turkish soldiers in one-man trenches are
positioned every 30m or so.
