Turkey 'returns fire' after Syrian shelling

Turkey's state-run news agency has said Turkish troops returned fire after a mortar shell from Syria again landed on its territory.

The Anadolu Agency quoted the governor of Hatay province as saying that Turkish troops "responded with fire" after the mortar round landed on Friday in a rural area of the province that borders Syria.

No one was reported hurt.

Turkish artillery has fired at Syrian targets for two straight days after shelling from Syria killed five civilians in Turkey.

It was the first time Turkey has taken military action across the border since the Syrian uprising began.

Turkey's parliament on Thursday also voted to allow cross border military operations in Syria.

The uprising against Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president, erupted in March 2011 and has gradually morphed into a bloody civil war, killing more than 30,000 people, according to activists.

Following the killing of two women and three children in the Turkish border town of Akcakale this week, Turkey's parliament authorised troops to launch cross-border operations against Syria and strike at Syrian targets for a period of one year.

The UN Security Council said the incident showed the "grave impact" of the Syrian crisis on "regional peace and stability".

On Friday, Turkey moved tanks and anti-aircraft missiles into Akcakale, though Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country did not want war.

In Syria, meanwhile, heavy fighting was reported in several places, including a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

Fighter jets and artillery targeted the central city of Homs, subjecting the former opposition stronghold to its worst bombardment in months.

The Britain-based watchdog group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Friday's attack was the worst the city had seen in five months.

On the diplomatic front, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a statement on Thursday condemning "in the strongest terms" Syria's shelling of a Turkish town that killed five people.

Members managed to bridge differences between the strong statement demanded by the US and its Western supporters and backed by their NATO ally Turkey, and a weaker text pushed by Russia, Syria's most important ally, after negotiations that began late on Wednesday and continued until Thursday.

In the press statement, which needed approval from all 15 council members, the UN's most powerful body said the incident "highlighted the grave impact the crisis in Syria has on the security of its neighbours and on regional peace and stability."

It also extended condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Turkey.

The council demanded an immediate end to such violations of international law and called on the Syrian government ''to fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbours.'' Russia's agreement that the Syrian shelling violated international law was a key concession by Moscow.

Earlier in the day, Bashar Jaafari, Syria's ambassador to the UN, said the government did not apologise for the shelling from Syria because it was waiting for the outcome of an investigation on the source of the firing.

He said he delivered a letter to the Security Council that sent Syria's "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims "and to the friendly and brotherly people of Turkey."

It urged Turkey and its other neighbours to "act wisely, rationally and responsibly" and to prevent cross-border infiltration of "terrorists and insurgents" and the smuggling of arms.