Turkey strikes targets in Syria after mortar attack kills 5

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By NBC News staff and wire reports


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Updated 3:22 p.m. ET -- Turkey's military struck targets inside Syria on Wednesday in response to a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory that killed five Turkish civilians, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said in a statement.

"Our armed forces at the border region responded to this atrocious attack with artillery fire on points in Syria that were detected with radar, in line with the rules of engagement," the Turkish statement said.

"Turkey, acting within the rules of engagement and international laws, will never leave unreciprocated such provocations by the Syrian regime against our national security," it said.

Turkey's NTV television said Turkish radar pinpointed the positions from where the shells were fired on the southeastern Turkish town of Akcakale, and that those positions were hit.

"Turkey is a sovereign country. There was an attack on its territory. There must certainly be a response in international law. ... I hope this is Syria's last craziness. Syria will be called into account," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc.

The mortar bomb fired from Syria landed in a residential district of Akcakale on Wednesday, killing a woman and four children from the same family and wounding at least eight other people.

A Reuters witness saw the seriously wounded people -- three of them police officers -- being taken to hospital after the explosions in the Sanliurfa province.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu briefed the United Nations mediator on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, about the incident by telephone, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Davutoglu he strongly condemned the strike, a NATO spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said NATO continued to follow developments in the region "closely and with great concern."

Davutoglu earlier had contacted Rasmussen, who has said repeatedly that NATO has no intention of intervening in Syria but stood ready to defend NATO member Turkey, if necessary.

Television footage showed a cloud of smoke and dust rising up as residents ran to help the wounded.

"It (mortar round) hit right in the middle of the neighborhood. The wife and four children from the same family died," Ahmet Emin Meshurgul, local head of the Turkish Red Crescent, told Reuters, adding he knew the victims personally.

"People here are anxious, because we got hit before. Security forces tried to convince people to empty the neighborhood near the border, but now we've been hit right in the middle of the town," he said.

In Turkey, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported that there had been two explosions.

"Following the first blast, many homes and businesses were damaged. A second blast took place at the same location. According to preliminary reports, at least three people were killed and nine others wounded. Among the wounded were Turkish police officers," Ayhan told Anadolu.

The conflict in neighboring Syria has affected border areas in the past when stray bullets have flown into Turkish territory.

A mortar bomb fired from Syria damaged homes and workplaces in Akcakale last Friday but there were no deaths.

Turkey beefed up its troop presence and air defenses along the border after Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet in June.

In April, Turkey officially reported an incident to the United Nations in which at least five people, including two Turkish officials, were wounded when cross-border gunfire hit a Syrian refugee camp in Kilis, further west along the frontier.

"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," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in remarks Wednesday 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."

[Hal-9000]

"There must certainly be a response in international law"

they referred to this 3 different ways in the article above....you fuck us, we fuck you back...it's the LAW!

[Teh One Who Knocks]

From Ivan Watson and Saad Abedine, CNN


Istanbul (CNN) -- Turkey shelled a Syrian military position for a second consecutive day Thursday and authorized its military forces to venture beyond its borders, even as the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations urged his country's neighbor to exercise restraint.

Syria "is not seeking any escalation with any of its neighbors, including Turkey," Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters Thursday in New York after reading a letter offering his government's "deepest condolences" over shelling Wednesday that killed five people in a Turkish border village.

But Ja'afari called on Turkey to stop armed insurgents from crossing its border with Syria and to prevent media coverage of opposition groups operating from its territory.

"Syria bases its behavior with neighboring countries to the rules of good neighborliness and respect for national sovereignties of states, and it invites, in return, those states to respect the national sovereignty of Syria, and to cooperate in border control and prevention of the infiltration of insurgents and terrorists, according to what Syria has always done," Ja'afari said in the letter given to U.N. officials.

The developments underscore fears that the civil war raging in Syria could ignite a wider regional conflict.

Turkish forces fired on Syrian government targets in retaliation for the artillery fire that struck Turkey's border town of Akcakale, and Turkey's parliament, meeting in emergency session, gave the government permission to deploy its soldiers to foreign countries, a semiofficial news agency said.

"Turkey has retaliated to yesterday's incident without declaring war on Syria. Political, diplomatic initiatives will continue," Ibrahim Kalin, the foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Thursday in a posting on Twitter.

"Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria. But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary," Kalin added.

In the letter presented Thursday to U.N. officials, Syria said the incident was under investigation and expressed "deepest condolences" for the victims.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said Syria had accepted responsibility for Wednesday's shelling.

"Syria accepts that they did it and says it will not happen again," Atalay said.

Despite the reported apology, Turkish forces for the second day Thursday shelled Syrian military sites in Tal Abyad, about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Turkish border, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported.

Salih Aydogan, a local official in Akcakale, said that Turkish artillery fired at Syria throughout Wednesday night and before dawn Thursday.

In a text message to CNN, he wrote, "Of course we heard the shooting. We couldn't sleep until the morning. The artillery unit is located at the zero point (directly at) the border in our district."

In the letter delivered to the United Nations, Syrian officials said two Syrian army officers were wounded.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a number of Syrian security forces were killed.

In the resolution authorizing the deployment of troops, Turkish officials said circumstances have "reached a point that constitutes serious threat and risk to our national security. Therefore, it has become necessary to be able to respond to further risks and threats in a timely and immediate manner."

The resolution, approved 320-129, gives the prime minister the power to decide when and where troops might be deployed for up to a year.

It points to a series of aggressive acts against Turkey by Syria beginning on September 20, when fighting between rebels and Syrian government forces near the border wounded three Turkish civilians and led to the temporary closure of area schools and farms.

Syria and Turkey once enjoyed warm relations that included visa-free travel and robust trade between the countries.

But relations ruptured as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government waged its bloody and unrelenting crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

Tensions flared four months ago when the Syrian government announced it had shot down a Turkish military reconnaissance jet after it crossed into Syrian airspace. Two Turkish pilots were killed in the incident. The Turkish government insists the jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile after it left Syrian airspace -- an assertion that the Syrian government denies.

The strikes into Turkey have been condemned by a number of nations.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the development demonstrates "how Syria's conflict is threatening not only the security of the Syrian people but increasingly causing harm to its neighbors." France called on the U.N. Security Council to condemn the strike on Akcakale.

Syrian ally Russia called for restraint.

"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," said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, state-run media said. "We think it is of fundamental importance for Damascus to state that officially."

The attack struck a chord across the nation.

Asli Aydintasbas, a columnist for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, lobbied for a forceful Turkish reaction in her column Thursday.

"In my view, Turkey has no other option but to retaliate," she told CNN in a telephone interview.

"Syrians were testing our resolve persistently. This was an effort to signal to Turkey that it needs to stay out of the Syrian crisis. Not only the safety of our citizens, but also our prestige in the region was at stake. In this neighborhood, countries have to have deterrent capabilities in order to survive. Turkey has to respond in a fashion to show that it is not a country to be messed with."

Turkey has played a key role in calling for a transition of power in Syria, hosting international diplomats at ad hoc meetings of the Friends of Syria, a group that was formed after the U.N. Security Council failed to take action.

Last March, Turkey shuttered its embassy in Damascus and the Syrian government declared Turkey's ambassador, Omer Onhon, persona non grata.

Erdogan has repeatedly denounced al-Assad, publicly calling on him to step down after accusing him of massacring his own people. The Syrian government, meanwhile, has accused Turkey of arming and funding Syrian rebels.

CNN journalists have witnessed light weapons in the form of assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns shipped from Turkey to Syrian rebels.

In addition, Turkey is hosting more than 93,000 Syrian refugees in camps. Turkish officials estimate an additional 40,000 to 50,000 unofficial refugees live in the country outside refugee camps.

On Wednesday, the North Atlantic Council, NATO's most senior political governing body, said it stands by Turkey, which is a member of the treaty organization. The alliance "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," the council said after an emergency meeting. The Syrian government has a recent pattern of "aggressive attacks" at NATO's southeastern border, in Turkey, it said.