Beirut: Syrians trying to flee their war-torn nation into Turkey have been accused of being shot at, tortured, and subjected to excessive force by Turkish border guards, according to Human Rights Watch.

It demanded that Ankara look into border guards, bring to justice those responsible for "grave human rights violations, including unlawful killings," and put an end to the "longstanding impunity for these abuses."

Turkish border guards are "indiscriminately shooting at Syrian civilians on the border, torturing asylum seekers, and using excessive force against migrants trying to cross," according to a statement from the New York-based rights organisation.

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Since 2011, more than 500,000 people have died and millions have been displaced due to the war in Syria.

According to the UN refugee agency, Turkey, which has 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees, and Syria are separated by a long border.

According to HRW, Turkey's generous hosting of a sizable number of Syrian refugees does not relieve it of its responsibility to uphold the rights of other people seeking safety at its borders.

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It cited a March 11 incident in which border guards "intercepted and tortured a group of eight Syrians who had attempted to cross into Turkiye... killing a boy and one man" and sending the others back to Syria.

Hugh Williamson of HRW said that Turkish gendarmes and other armed forces in charge of border control regularly abuse and shoot at Syrians along the Syrian-Turkish border, with hundreds of deaths and injuries documented in recent years.

The government has failed to effectively stop or investigate the pattern of brutality by Turkish border guards, which includes the particularly egregious killings of Syrians without cause.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that monitors the conflict, Turkish border guards have shot and killed 12 Syrians and injured 20 others since the year's beginning.

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HRW urged Ankara to "urgently conduct a full review" of border security strategy, saying that while Turkey is entitled to secure its border with Syria, it must do so in accordance with international law and particularly its human rights obligations.