The Turkish army has started building a wall alongside the Nusaybin district, bordering Syria, to prevent the illegal passing of immigrants, according to Turkish media.

Construction vehicles are currently continuing the work at the border by Nusaybin, which is located right across from Syria’s Qamishli. The wall is set to be two-meters high, and will have barbed wire fencing over it, Hurryiet Daily News reports.

The wall would span just a fraction of the 900-km (560-mile) border, but highlights Ankara's growing concern about the spillover of violence from northern Syria, a battleground for myriad armed groups in a scramble to grab territory.

Turkey is sheltering approximately 500 000 people who have fled the Syrian conflict. The country is one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's fiercest critics and a staunch supporter of the rebels fighting against him.