WarSclerotic

Thousands of refugees had crossed over into Turkey, while thousands more camped out just inside Syria [Reuters]

Hundreds of displaced Syrians have fled into Turkey after Syrian troops, backed by tanks, approached their makeshift camps along the border.

Witnesses said on Thursday that Syrian troops had massed on the Turkish border overnight, escalating tensions with Ankara as President Bashar al-Assad uses increasing military force to try to crush a popular revolt.

Refugees from the northwestern province of Idlib said armoured vehicles and troops were now as close as 500 metres from the border in the Khirbat al-Joz area.

Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught, reporting from the Turkish border village of Guvecci, said that she could see Syrian soldiers from where she was.

A Reuters photographer in Guvecci also reported seeing three soldiers with a machine-gun positioned on the roof of a house on top of a hill.

Syrian armoured personnel carriers were visible on a road running along the top of the hill, and machine-gun fire was heard although it was not clear who the troops were firing at.