<p>Syrian warplanes bombed a rebel headquarters near the Turkish border on Monday, missing their target but sending hundreds of Syrians fleeing across the frontier.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The attack on the Free Syrian Army base in Atima, 2 km from the border, came a day before Turkish and Nato officials were due to start assessing where to station surface-to-air missiles close to the 900 km border.<br /><br />Turkey, a major supporter of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly scrambled jets along the joint border and responded in kind when Syrian shells have landed inside Turkey.<br /><br />But Ankara, rejecting Syrian complaints that the Patriots were “provocative”, stressed that they would be used only to defend the Turkish territory, not to create a no-fly zone inside Syria that rebels want to neutralise Assad’s massive air power.</p>
<p>Syrian warplanes bombed a rebel headquarters near the Turkish border on Monday, missing their target but sending hundreds of Syrians fleeing across the frontier.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The attack on the Free Syrian Army base in Atima, 2 km from the border, came a day before Turkish and Nato officials were due to start assessing where to station surface-to-air missiles close to the 900 km border.<br /><br />Turkey, a major supporter of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly scrambled jets along the joint border and responded in kind when Syrian shells have landed inside Turkey.<br /><br />But Ankara, rejecting Syrian complaints that the Patriots were “provocative”, stressed that they would be used only to defend the Turkish territory, not to create a no-fly zone inside Syria that rebels want to neutralise Assad’s massive air power.</p>