Turkey strikes targets in Syria in retaliation for shelling deaths

[Yalquzaq]

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/03/wo...ion/index.html

[Yalquzaq]

http://video.milliyet.com.tr/video-i...n6Nam3fFW.html

Artillery strikes was resumed this morning.

[Onur]

This is happening because stupid borders drawn by France after WW-1.

France invaded today`s Syria after WW-1. It was a part of Ottoman empire back then. They drawn the borders between Turkey and Syria and it`s so stupid that they cut the towns and districts to the half, northern parts of towns became Turkey, southern parts became Syria. These towns still exists and the only thing separates them are just barbed wires. The people are living side by side and both sides are clearly visible from both places.

The rebels occupied the Syrian sides in our border and they are using the residences and buildings in there as military posts. Syrian army bombs these buildings and whether intentionally or accidentally, they shoot Turkish side of the border yesterday.

I don't think they bombed intentionally because Syrian regime already is in trouble. I don't think they would desire to mess with Turkey too. Already, this is what the rebels wants, pulling Turkey to the conflict.

[Geminus]

France invaded today`s Syria after WW-1. It was a part of Ottoman empire back then. They drawn the borders between Turkey and Syria and it`s so stupid that they cut the towns and districts to the half, northern parts of towns became Turkey, southern parts became Syria. These towns still exists and the only thing separates them are just barbed wires. The people are living side by side and both sides are clearly visible from both places.

But the people living in these town are mostly Arabs and Kurds, right?
I wonder if Turkey will commence further actions in this conflict.

[Onur]

But the people living in these town are mostly Arabs and Kurds, right?

This particular town bombed by Syrian army are populated with Arabs but yes, these Iraqi and Syrian bordering towns are mostly populated with Kurds and Arabs. These are sparsely populated places with not more than 8-10k people in each of the districts. Most of these people have distant relatives in the Syrian side of the towns because like i said above, these places was united during the centuries of Ottoman reign. French government has drawn our Syrian border and British government drawn our Iraqi border after WW-1. The new Turkish republic just accepted these new borders but especially the Syrian border is a mess. They cut the towns in half and for some families, their brother remained in Syrian side, sisters remained in Turkish side.

Some families in Syrian side are Turks, using Turkish as a mothertongue but learning Arabic in school and some people are Arabs in Turkish side, using Arabic as a mothertongue but learning Turkish in school.

I wonder if Turkey will commence further actions in this conflict.

I am curious about that too but i hope not because the last thing i wanna see is Turkey`s direct involvement to the middle-eastern conflicts. It`s a hellhole.

[Cannabis Sativa]

I don't think they bombed intentionally because Syrian regime already is in trouble. I don't think they would desire to mess with Turkey too. Already, this is what the rebels wants, pulling Turkey to the conflict.

Some says it is a false flag operation commited by FSA, but hard to believe it because FSA bandits have no pieces of middle range artillery at all. About driving us into war, yes they're driving. But the operation might be commited by Iranian Revolutionary Guards or Al-Quds Force(one of the most efficient type of provocative elements) since they've been in Syrian Army for almost half a year.

[Anatolian Eagle]

I hate AKP and their policies over Syria, however although I dislike Turkey being involved all of this mess and shit that is not Turkey's concern because of them, I kinda support the strike. Five civilians and two pilots killed by them should be avenged. According to officals 34 Syrian soldiers have been killed. That's a good start and enough to give Assad the message. If we keep stay without reaction they would go increase their attacks, stay as a threat to Turkey aswell as damaging Turkey's reputation over the region.

However that being said, it's also suspicious that the last attack also could've been a plot of Syrian rebels to urge Turkey to fight against Syrian regime, which is the worst part of the scenario. It's not that they're trustable.

[Anatolian Eagle]

DHA photo

Turkish troops pounded targets in Syria on Thursday morning in reprisal for cross-border fire that killed five Turkish civilians the previous day, a security source said.

"Artillery fire resumed at 0300 GMT this morning," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Several Syrian soldiers have been killed as a result of overnight Turkish shelling across the border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said earlier, without giving an exact figure.

Turkey has demanded that the UN Security Council take action against Damascus after Wednesday's attack, which saw mortar fire from Syria kill five Turkish nationals, including a mother and her three children.

It marked the first time that Turkish citizens have been killed as a result of fire from its war-torn neighbour and led to a sharp escalation of tensions between the former allies.

Later Thursday the Turkish parliament was due to consider a government request to approve cross-border military action.

Before Wednesday, the most serious clash between Syria and Turkey was in June, when Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet, killing both crewmen.


http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tur...&NewsCatID=352

[Anatolian Eagle]

NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium (Photo: AP)

While NATO has declared its full support for ally Turkey during an emergency meeting after a deadly mortar strike from Syria killed five civilians on Turkish soil, it is not expected that the UN Security Council will take serious action due to the vetoes of Russia -- a staunch ally of Syria -- and China.

In the latest blow to the already strained ties between the two neighbors, Syria fired mortar shells into a residential district of the southeastern Turkish town of Akçakale on Wednesday, killing a woman and four children from the same family and wounding at least 13 people. In response, Turkey attacked targets inside Syria. The incident represents the most serious cross-border escalation of the 18-month uprising in Syria.

Following the incident, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu conducted phone calls with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, international Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the foreign ministers of many other countries to brief them about the incident.

NATO's National Atlantic Council, which is composed of the national ambassadors, held a rare late-night meeting in Brussels on Wednesday night at Turkey's request to discuss the cross-border incident. In the meeting, NATO demanded an immediate halt of “aggressive acts” against alliance member Turkey.

NATO ambassadors said in a statement that the attack constitutes a cause of great concern for, and is strongly condemned by, all allies.

“The alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law,” said the statement.

Following the incident, Turkey asked the UN Security Council to take the “necessary action” to stop Syrian aggression and ensure that the Syrian regime respects Turkish territorial sovereignty.

Turkish UN Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan said in a letter to Guatemalan Ambassador Gert Rosenthal, the president of the 15-nation Security Council, that this was an act of aggression by Syria against Turkey.

“It constitutes a flagrant violation of international law as well as a breach of international peace and security,” said the letter, which was obtained by Reuters.

Although UN diplomats said the 15-nation council was hoping to issue a non-binding statement that would condemn the mortar attack and demand an end to violations of Turkey's territorial sovereignty, they added it was unlikely that the council would do anything more than issue a statement for the time being.

The Security Council has been deadlocked on Syria's 18-month-long conflict for more than a year due to the vetoes of Russia and China.

Ban urged Turkey to keep all channels of communication open with Syria to avoid increased tensions between the neighbors.

“[Ban] calls on the Syrian government to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbors, as well as to end the violence against the Syrian people,” Ban's press office said in a statement. “Today's incidents, where firing from Syria struck a Turkish town, again demonstrated how Syria's conflict is threatening not only the security of the Syrian people but increasingly causing harm to its neighbors.”

Following the incident, the international community immediately declared its condemnation of the Syrian regime, vowing support for Turkey.

Russia made a surprising statement, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling for restraint, stating that Syria has told Russia that the mortar bomb attack on the Turkish border was accidental and would not be repeated, the RIA Novosti news agency said.

“Through our ambassador to Syria, we have spoken to the Syrian authorities who assured us that what happened at the border with Turkey was a tragic accident, and that it will not happen again,” RIA quoted Lavrov as saying during a visit to Islamabad.

“We think it is of fundamental importance for Damascus to state that officially,” he added.

Meanwhile, Clinton condemned the incident, and said Washington would discuss with Ankara what the next step should be.

“We are outraged that the Syrians have been shooting across the border. We are very regretful about the loss of life that has occurred on the Turkish side,” Clinton said in remarks during an appearance with Kazakhstan's visiting foreign minister.

“We are working with our Turkish friends. I will be speaking with the [Turkish] foreign minister later to discuss what the best way forward would be,” Clinton said, calling the spread of violence beyond Syria's borders “a very, very dangerous situation.”

The White House also strongly condemned Syria's deadly shelling across the border with Turkey, saying, “The US stands with its Turkish ally and is continuing to consult closely on the path forward.”

“All responsible nations must make clear that it is long past time for [Bashar al] Assad to step aside, declare a ceasefire and begin the long-overdue political transition process,” stated White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Another statement came from British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who strongly condemned Syria's attack and said that Turkey's military response was understandable. Hague underlined that escalation of the situation should be avoided.

“The Turkish response is understandable; an outrageous act has taken place. Turkish citizens have been killed inside Turkey by forces from another country. So we express our strong solidarity with Turkey, but we don't want to see a continuing escalation of this incident,” Hague said.

Hague also stated the Syrian government should make sure that there is no repetition whatever of any incident of this kind so that such tensions on border regions with Turkey or with other neighboring countries can be avoided.

“Wednesday's events are a stark reminder of the deteriorating situation in Syria, the dangers it presents to the wider region, and the need for an urgent resolution of the United Nations Security Council.”

France called on the UN Security Council to send a swift and firm message to Syria condemning the attack. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also said in a statement that Syria's attack was a serious threat to peace, urging that such acts be ended without delay.

Egypt also warned the Syrian regime on Thursday not to violate the borders of Turkey, with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamal Amr saying he sees numerous dangers for the region if the conflict were to spread.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also condemned the incident, calling for restraint from all sides.

“I strongly condemn shelling by Syrian forces of the Turkish border town,” she said in a statement. “I once again urge the Syrian authorities to put an immediate end to the violence and fully respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all neighboring countries.”

“I call for restraint from all sides and will continue to follow the situation extremely closely,” she said.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-2942...s-divided.html

[Onur]

Some says it is a false flag operation commited by FSA, but hard to believe it because FSA bandits have no pieces of middle range artillery at all. About driving us into war, yes they're driving. But the operation might be commited by Iranian Revolutionary Guards or Al-Quds Force(one of the most efficient type of provocative elements) since they've been in Syrian Army for almost half a year.

We can never be sure about who fired that shot yesterday. As you know, there are more CIA/Mossad agents and Al-Qaeda militants than Syrian army personnel in northern Syria atm.

First of all, we still doesn't know it was a mortar fire or heavy artillery. We will know this in few days after investigation gets completed. Free Syrian army has mortars but even if it`s an artillery fire, FSA militants might have captured a Syrian military post in there and fired the artillery gun to the Turkish territory. OR even more conspiracy theory; CIA agents might have paid informants inside the Syrian army and they might have order them to fire the guns to the Turkey, who knows?!

I am sure about one thing; Assad is no crazy. He is a smart guy and the last thing he wants is to pull Turkish army inside Syria. This is what FSA and Al-Qaeda wants, not desired by Assad.