BBC News with Jonathan Izard
Syrian troops and tanks have moved into areas along the border with Turkey, where thousands of people had taken refuge from the campaign against political protests. Witnesses on the Turkish side of the border saw Syrian troops
patrol
ling the village of Khirbet al-Jouz and snipers positioned on rooftops. From Istanbul, Jonathan Head reports.
For weeks, the strip of Syrian land in the northwest lying next to Turkey has been a
de facto
buffer zone. Thousands of Syrians fleeing from their own army have camped out there,
assuming
they were protected by the Turkish military bases across the border. But today, Syrian forces move right up to that border, clearly visible from the Turkish side. And the refugees who'd been living just inside Syria with their cars and farm animals rushed through the barbed-wire fence into Turkish territory, from where they were driven to one of the five camps being run by the Turkish authorities.
The United States top military officer Admiral Mike Mullen has admitted that President Obama's decision to accelerate the withdrawal from Afghanistan is riskier than he originally wanted.
A third of the force is to be brought home by September next year. Speaking in Congress, Admiral Mullen said
ultimately
it was for the president to decide the acceptable level of risk America should take.
"I do not intend to discuss the specifics of the private advice I