Turkey to install more air defense systems on Syrian border

- Turkey is set to install more air defense systems in its southeastern province of Kilis to enhance security on the border with Syria, Hurriyet News reported Thursday.

The counter-mortar "Serhat" radar system and self-propelled "Korkut" air defense gun system, developed by the country's leading defense manufacturer Aselsan, will be installed at the Elbeyli border crossing in Kilis.

Two batteries of Aselsan's High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System will also be brought to Kilis alongside armed drones.

Meanwhile, efforts to seal off a 70-km strip of Turkey's border were nearing an end. According to reports, the related construction continues in the southeastern provinces of Kilis, Gaziantep, Hatay, Sanliurfa and Mardin.

The structure, 70 percent of which is now completed, will be five meters high, including four meters of concrete and one meter of razor wire.

The border will be monitored around the clock by unmanned bubbled surveillance systems dubbed "mini zeppelins," also developed by Aselsan.

Islamic State rocket attacks have claimed the lives of 21 since Jan. 18, including eight Syrians, in Kilis, while more than 80 people have been wounded.

source: xinhua