Turkey stages fresh war games near Syrian border

Turkish army’s tanks and jets parade during the 90th anniversary of Victory Day in Ankara,

Turkey has conducted a new round of military exercises near its border with Syria as Ankara steps up efforts to militarize the situation in the region.

The drills, which were staged in the border town of Suruc on Wednesday, involved tanks and armored personnel carriers.

The war games came after the deployment of Turkish troops to the border area.

Turkish media said the drills were a ‘show of force’ against Damascus.

Ankara has recently carried out several war games along the Syrian border.

Syria accuses Turkey, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, of arming and funding insurgents who have been fighting against the Syrian government.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Turkish Cumhuriyet daily in an interview in July that Turkey “has supplied all logistic support to the terrorists who have killed our people.”

The Arab country has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving force behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.