ANKARA, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces Necdet Ozel inspected troops along the border with neighboring Syria on Tuesday amid the escalating tensions between the two countries, local newspaper Today's Zaman reported.
Ozel arrived in the Iskenderun town of Hatay province in southern Turkey late on Monday and inspected troops at the 39th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. The military chief then inspected deployments in the border towns of Yayladagi and Altinozu from the air.
Ozel is also expected to visit the town of Akcakale town in the province of Sanl urfa, where a Syrian mortar shell killed five civilians last Wednesday.
His visit comes as the exchange of artillery and mortar shelling across the volatile Turkish-Syrian border entered its sixth consecutive day since the Oct. 3 incident.
The Dogan news agency quoted unidentified military sources as saying that at least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets were deployed at Turkey's Diyarbakir air base late Monday.
In an emergency session on Thursday, the Turkish parliament approved a motion for cross-border military operations inside Syria.
Ankara has been complaining about the spillover of Syrian artillery shelling and gunfire into its territory, and has last week said it would act if mortar strikes were repeated from Syria.
Turkey, once an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but now a leading voice urging his ouster, shelters over 90,000 Syrian refugees and has reportedly provided Syrian rebel army leaders with sanctuary.
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