Turkey returns fire on Syria
Cross-border tension peaks as Aleppo rocked by suicide bombings
AKCAKALE, TURKEY— Turkish artillery hit targets inside Syria on Wednesday after a mortar bomb fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians, while NATO called for an immediate end to Syria’s “aggressive acts.”
In the most serious cross-border escalation of the 18-month uprising in Syria, Turkey hit back at what it called “the last straw” when a mortar hit a residential neighbourhood of this southern border town. NATO said it stood by membernation Turkey and urged Syria to put an end to “flagrant violations of international law.” The U.S.-led western military alliance held an urgent late-night meeting in Brussels to discuss the matter. Later on Wednesday in New York, Turkey asked the UN Security Council to take the “necessary action” to stop Syrian aggression.
Syria said it was investigating the source of the deadly mortar bomb, urging restraint after Turkey’s military strikes inside Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed outrage at the mortar from Syria and said Washington would discuss with Ankara what the next steps should be, calling the spread of violence a “very, very dangerous situation.”
The artillery fire capped a day that began with four bombs tearing through a government-held district in Syria’s commercial and cultural capital of Aleppo, killing at least 34 people, injuring about 120 and reducing buildings to rubble.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the government blamed suicide bombers.