December 2011 Syrian–Turkish border clash

The December 2011 Syrian-Turkey border clash was an unsuccessful attempt by armed men to infiltrate into Syria from Turkey.

December 2011 Syrian-Turkish border clash
Part of Idlib Governorate clashes (September 2011–March 2012)
Date December 5–12, 2011 Location Syrian-Turkish border Result Syrian victory, all infiltrators repelled
Belligerents
Syria Syrian Armed Forces	Free Syrian Army
Strength
Syrian border patrols units	35 first attempt 15 second attempt
Casualties and losses
None	3 killed, several wounded, 1 arrested

During the 5 December night, about 35 armed fighters tried to cross the border of Syria from Turkey but were engaged immediately by the Syrian borders forces who inflicted several wounds to them and were able to repel them back to Turkey.[1]

Once they were back on Turkish soil, the Turkish army picked them up in trucks and took care of the injured fighters.[2]

A further attempt happened, as during the night of 12 December, 15 infiltrators tried again to cross the borders. They were unsuccessful and two of them were killed by Syrian border patrols

Because of this, the Pro-Government Syrian news agency, SANA, stated that the Free Syrian Army staged a retaliation attack and shot and killed a senior officer, Brigadier General Ghanem Ibrahim al-Hassan.[3]

On 1 February, Syrian authorities announced that they prevented another infiltration attempt from Turkey, in the Idlib Province. One infiltrator was killed and another arrested while the others fled.[4] On 10 March a new group of infiltrators was prevented from moving into Syria with several members of the group killed or arrested by the army.[5]