Update with my new diary – Turkey’s Heavy Artillery Barrage Continues to Establish Exclusion Zone .
Update with 2nd day of retaliation by Turkey which has harbored rebels of the Free Syrian Army during the 18 months of uprising, leading to international involvement of European nations, United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey renews shelling of Syrian military sites after mortar fire
(Today’s Zaman) – Turkish artillery hit targets near Syria’s Tel Abyad border town for a second day on Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers according to activists and security sources, after a mortar bomb fired from the area killed five Turkish civilians.
Turkey’s government said “aggressive action” against its territory by Syria’s military had become a serious threat to its national security and sought parliamentary approval for the deployment of Turkish troops beyond its borders.
“Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria. But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary,” Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, said on his Twitter account.
Turkey-Syria Cross-border Shelling Near Akçakale and Tal Abyad
Turkey has retaliated after a Syrian mortar shell fell on a farm house killing 5. Earlier rebels from the Free Syrian Army had taken possession of the border-crossing near Akçakale, Turkey. The Syrian Army has attacked the rebels to remove them from the border post. The rebels receive support from Turkey who gives them a safe haven to regroup and resupply with funds and arms. The German Spy Ship provides intelligence for the rebels on the movements of Syrian security and military forces.
Rebels Are Said to Defeat Syrian Forces in Battle at Border
(NY Times) – Turkish schools in the region were closed for the day after intense overnight clashes in which the rebels attacked the Syrian frontier post at Tal Abyad, south of the Turkish town of Sanliurfa, according to the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency. Television images appeared to show members of the insurgent Free Syrian Army standing on the roof of the border post and hauling down the Syrian flag at Tal Abyad, which is less than a mile from Turkey’s Akçakale crossing.
+++ Breaking News +++ Turkish artillery fires into Syria
The Turkish prime ministerial office says Turkey’s military has struck targets inside Syria. This follows a mortar bomb believed fired from Syria that killed a women and four children in the Turkish town of Akçakale.
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Turkey said its artillery had fired “on points in Syria that were detected with radar, in line with the rules of engagement,” said the statement from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s office.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minster Ahmet Davutoglu had made telephone calls to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Syria crisis mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.
Clinton- situation “very dangerous”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was “outraged that the Syrians have been shooting across the border.” She described the situation as “very, very dangerous.”
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance, of which Turkey is a member, was following developments “closely and with great concern.”
In Akçakale residents infuriated by the spillover of violence from Syria’s civil war took to the streets, directing their protest against local authorities.
Syrian refugees are not welcome in Turkey’s towns
BTW Hillary Clinton had no comment on a triple car bomb explosions in the center of Aleppo
Aleppo bomb attacks – 48 people killed and 100 injured in blasts
(Guarfian) – At least
3448 people were killed and more than 120 injured when three suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives in a government-controlled area of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Buildings were razed and survivors were trapped under the rubble, state TV said.
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A fourth explosion hit the edge of the old city, a Unesco World Heritage site that has been heavily damaged during more than two months of fierce fighting between rebels and government forces.
The government said the blasts were caused by opposition suicide bombers. The technique is common to al-Qaida-style jihadist groups, some of which are known to have entered Syria to fight against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian government has always blamed the uprising on foreign terrorists, even though the revolt began as peaceful protests by ordinary citizens that turned violent after attacks by security forces.
Russia warns Turkey and NATO not to invade Syrian territory
MOSCOW (JPost) – Russia told NATO and world powers they should not seek ways to intervene in the Syrian war or set up buffer zones between rebels and government forces.The statements from Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was one of Moscow’s most specific warnings yet to the West and Gulf Arab leaders to keep out of the 18-month-old conflict.
“In our contacts with partners in NATO and in the region, we are calling on them not to seek pretexts for carrying out a military scenario or to introduce initiatives such as humanitarian corridors or buffer zones.”
Syria’s neighbor Turkey has floated the idea of setting up “safe zones” inside Syria to protect civilians but that would also have to be approved by the Security Council.
Russia-US reset cannot last forever – Lavrov
(RussiaToday) – Moscow and Washington must do more to strengthen relations otherwise the bilateral “reset” will suffer a malfunction, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on Wednesday.
America’s declaration of a reset in relations with Russia, symbolized by a little yellow box presented to Lavrov by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2008, may be heading for a malfunction.
“If we talk about the ‘reset’, it is clear that, using computer terminology, it cannot last forever,” the Foreign Minister told Kommersant in an interview. “Otherwise it would not be a ‘reset’ but a program failure.”
- Syrian refugees are not welcome in Turkey’s towns
- Hillary Clinton Is Tired, US Foreign Policy ‘Out of Touch’
