Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie will meet with Syrians who have fled an anti-government crackdown in their homeland on a tour of refugee camps in southern Turkey on Friday, officials said.

"Ms Jolie will visit Hatay province on Friday after travelling from Istanbul," Selcuk Unal, a spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry, told AFP.

Confirmation of the visit comes after Jolie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugees agency (UNHCR), requested clearance from Turkish authorities to visit the border region.

More than 8,000 Syrians are now staying in three refugee camps in Hataya province after fleeing the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

Many of them are from Jisr al-Shughur, a town some roughly 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Turkish border, which has been the scene of a major army operation.

Jolie is noted for her humanitarian work and paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan in March to visit refugee camps.