December 2011 Syrian–Turkish border clash

The December 2011 Syrian-Turkey border clash was an ineffective incursion from Turkey by armed men into Syria.

During the night of 5 December, about 35 armed fighters attempted an ineffective incursion from Turkey of Syria and were engaged immediately by the Syrian border forces who wounded several the fighters and were able to repel them into Turkey.

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

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.

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. On 10 March a new group ineffectively infiltrated Syria with several infiltrators killed or arrested by the army.