Armed Islamic State militants dispersed a large number of Syrians waiting to cross into Turkey at the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad on Saturday (June 13).
The would-be refugees were made to pick up their belongings and move away from the border.
Fighting near the border has already forced more than 13,000 people to cross into Turkey from Syria. Some 1,500 more are waiting to cross.
A security source said Turkish soldiers sprayed water and fired into the air when some of them approached the border fence on Saturday.
The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said it began an advance towards the Islamic State-held town at the Turkish border on Saturday, thrusting deeper into the jihadists’ stronghold of Raqqa province in a campaign backed by U.S.-led air strikes.
The expansion of Kurdish influence in Syria near the border with Turkey is a concern for Ankara, which has long been worried about separatism among its own Kurdish population.
The Turkish authorities have closed Akcakale to vehicles and it has been months since they allowed anyone to cross from Tel Abyad into Turkey. However, Turkey still allows people with a valid passport to cross into Syria from Akcakale.
The Turkish military has dug trenches in the border area.
The advance raises the prospect of a battle at the Turkish border between the well-organised YPG militia and Islamic State.
Tel Abyad is important to Islamic State as the nearest border town to its de facto capital of Raqqa city.
REUTERS