ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey returned fire after
Syrian mortar bombs landed in a field in southern Turkey on Saturday, the day after
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria that Turkey would not shy away from
war if provoked.
It was the fourth day of Turkish retaliation
for firing by Syrian forces that killed five Turkish civilians on Wednesday.
The exchanges are the most serious cross-border
violence in Syria's conflict, which began as a democracy uprising but has
evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones. They highlight how the
crisis could destabilize the region.
NATO member Turkey was once an ally of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad but turned against him after his violent response to
an uprising in which, according to the United Nations, more than 30,000 people
have died.
Turkey has nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees in
camps on its territory, has allowed rebel leaders sanctuary and has led calls
for Assad to quit. Its armed forces are far larger than Syria's.
Erdogan said on Friday his country did not want
war but warned Syria not to make a "fatal mistake" by testing its
resolve. Damascus has said its fire hit Turkey accidentally.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said
on Saturday that parliament's authorization of possible cross-border military
action was designed as a deterrent.
"From now on, if there is an attack on
Turkey it will be silenced," he said in an interview with state
broadcaster TRT.
Western powers have backed fellow NATO member
Turkey over Syria but have shown little appetite for the kind of intervention
that helped topple Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Turkish calls for a safe zone in
Syria would require a no-fly zone that NATO states are unwilling to police.
'VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE'
Davutoglu said international mediator on Syria
Lakhdar Brahimi would come to Turkey before Russian President Vladimir Putin
visits Ankara within the next 10 days.
Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby in a newspaper
interview called Brahimi's Syria mission "virtually impossible."
Asked about the efforts of the Egypt-Saudi-Turkey-Iran quartet to solve the
crisis, Elaraby said: "The solution must comprise Iran. The important
thing is that matters get moving."
The 18-month-old Syrian revolt increasingly
pits a Sunni Muslim opposition against Assad's Alawite minority, an offshoot of
the Shi'ite Islam that dominates in Iran, whose government backs Assad's
government.
Rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo said
government troops tried to storm the Sakhour district on Saturday but were
pushed back after heavy clashes. Activists across Syria said there was fighting
in several cities and towns including the central city of Homs and in Damascus
countryside.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said at least 60 people, including 36 government soldiers, were killed
in clashes across the country on Saturday.
Syrian rebel forces are riven by divisions but
Syrian government forces appear to lack the numbers to land a knockout blow and
permanently hold rebellious areas.
U.S. President Barack Obama on September 25
accused Iran of helping keep Assad in power but has refused to arm Syria's
rebels, partly for fear some of those fighting Assad's rule are Islamist
radicals equally hostile to the West.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta expressed
renewed worry on Saturday that the hostilities in Syria could spread.
"Whether or not that conflict begins to
extend into the neighboring countries such as Turkey remains to be seen. But
obviously the fact that there are now exchanges fired between these two
countries raises additional concerns that this conflict could broaden,"
Panetta told a news conference in Lima with Peru's defense minister.
Iran on Saturday called for the immediate
release of Iranians held captive by Syrian rebels and said it would hold the
rebels and their supporters responsible for their lives.
Syrian rebels seized a busload of 48 Iranians
in early August on suspicion of being military personnel. Tehran says they were
pilgrims visiting a Shi'ite shrine in Damascus.
MORTARS LAND IN TURKEY
At least three rounds fired from Syria landed
inside Turkey's Yayladagi district on Saturday, the office of the governor of
the Turkish province of Hatay said.
It said the fire appeared to have been aimed by
Syrian forces at rebels along the border. There were no casualties. Turkish
border troops fired back mortars in response.
There were two similar incidents in Hatay on
Friday, when Erdogan issued his warning.
"Those who attempt to test Turkey's
deterrence, its decisiveness, its capacity, I say here they are making a fatal
mistake," he said in a bellicose speech to a crowd in Istanbul.
"We are not interested in war, but we're
not far from war either. This nation has come to where it is today having gone
through intercontinental wars," he said.
Turkish artillery bombarded Syrian military
targets on Wednesday and Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers after
Syria's initial fatal bombardment. The U.N. Security Council condemned the
original Syrian attack.
Russia, a staunch ally of Syria, said it
received assurances from Damascus the strike on Turkey was an accident but
Erdogan dismissed them, saying Syrian fire had repeatedly hit Turkey.
Wednesday's Syrian strike on the town of
Akcakale was of a different magnitude to previous incidents, a Turkish official
told Reuters.
"Wednesday was different. There were five
or six rounds into the same place. That's why we responded a couple of times,
to warn and deter. To tell the (Syrian) military to leave. We think they've got
the message and have pulled back from the area."
Syria has since ordered its warplanes and
helicopters not to go within 10 km (six miles) of the Turkish border and
artillery units not to fire shells close to the border, according to Turkish
broadcaster NTV. Syria has not confirmed this.
Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said a
large number of Turkish troops had been sent to the Oncupinar border area of
Kilis province.
Ezek 38:1- And the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying,
Ezek 38:2-
Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief
prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
Ezek 38:3- And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
Ezek 38:4- And I will turn thee back, and put
hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses
and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts [of armour, even] a great
company [with] bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
Ezek 38:5- Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with
them; all of them with shield and helmet:
Ezek 38:6- Gomer, and all his bands; the house
of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee.
Ezek 38:7- Be thou prepared, and prepare for
thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a
guard unto them.
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