Syria accuses Turkey of allowing Al-Qaeda transit in complaint to UN

Syria has accused Turkey of allowing thousands of extremists to cross into Syrian territory in a complaint to the United Nations about its neighbor. In letters to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Syria's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Turkey allowed "thousands of al-Qaeda, Takfiri and Wahhabi terrorists" access to the country in order to "kill innocent Syrians, blow up their properties and spread chaos and destruction,". Syrian authorities blame the anti-government uprising that began in March of last year on a foreign conspiracy and accuse Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the US, other Western countries and Turkey, of offering funding and training to the rebels, whom they describe as "terrorists." On Sunday afternoon, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Hatay, where tens of thousands of Syrians live in tent cities as well as in rented houses, to protest the Turkish government's support for the Syrian opposition seeking to topple President Assad's regime and demanded an investigation into claims that the refugee camps are used as bases by al-Qaeda militants for attacks in Syria. Mindful of simmering tensions in the province, Turkish authorities have recently begun to restrict the movements of Syrians within Hatay, telling those who do not live in the refugee camps to either join the camps or move to other cities away from the border.