A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest in central Istanbul Monday against Russia's President Vladimir Putin's visit. The sign, with pictures of President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria and Putin, reads, “Cruel Assad's accomplice partner Putin, you are not welcome." — Reuters ANKARA, Turkey – Syrian warplanes Monday bombed a security building that had been taken over by rebels along the Turkish border, killing at least one person, wounding 20 more and sending dozens of civilians fleeing across the frontier, a Turkish official said. The conflict also spilled into Syria's eastern neighbor, Lebanon, after Lebanese troops exchanged fire with rebels across the border late Sunday. Violence from Syria's 20-month-old uprising has on several occasions touched neighboring countries, fueling concerns that the Arab Spring's longest and deadliest revolt could touch off a regional war. Turkey scrambled fighter jets along its border with Syria, Turkish security sources said. They said Turkish F-16 jets were scrambled from their base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir after the air raids on the Free Syrian Army's headquarters in Ras Al-Ain. Shells landed in the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, which abuts Ras Al-Ain, triggering panic, the sources said. Turkish ambulances ferried at least 21 wounded Syrians from the border to Ceylanpinar's hospital, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with Turkish government policy. One of the wounded later died in the hospital, the official said, adding that witnesses in Ras Al-Ain told him more than a dozen people were killed in the bombing. Television footage from Turkey's Anadolu agency showed a large plume of smoke rising over the town, and dozens of Syrian civilians were also seen fleeing into Turkey after crossing through a barbed wire fence at the border. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that Lebanese soldiers stationed near the village of Qaa in the Bekaa Valley returned fire into Syria after “armed men" shot at them from across the frontier late Sunday. The agency quoted a statement from the Lebanese army that said there were no casualties. In Syria, activists reported heavy fighting between rebels and regime troops in the southern suburbs of Damascus as the army pressed an offensive to regain lost territory near the capital, including two air bases. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting Monday was concentrated in districts just south of Damascus, including in areas near the airport. The Observatory, which relies on reports from activists on the ground, said there were casualties. The Damascus suburbs have been opposition strongholds during the 20 months of fighting aimed at toppling Assad. The fighting over the past few weeks in and around Damascus — the seat of Assad's power base — has been the most serious in the capital since July, when rebels captured several neighborhoods before a swift government counteroffensive swept them out. The SANA state news agency said a car bomb detonated near the Engineering College in Aleppo, wounding four people. The report said “terrorists" — a term the regime uses for rebels — were responsible for the attack in the northern city that has been a major front in the civil war since the summer. – Agencies
