Turkey, Syria Trade Shellings as Region Fears Wider War
Errant Shell Damages Granary in Border Town
An errant Syrian shell crossed the border into the Turkish town of Akcakale, causing minor damage to a local granary and leading to retaliatory attacks by the Turkish military, with no indication what their shells actually hit.
It is the fifth day of Turkish officials talking up the possibility of attacking Syria, and much of the region is fearing that the tensions could lead to a wider war, potentially turning Syria’s Civil War into a region-wide conflict.
Today’s shell was the second to hit Akcakale in five days, and the third to hit Turkey overall. The first hit killed five civilians but later strikes don’t appear to have wounded anyone, while Turkey claims “several Syrian soldiers” have been slain in their attacks.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted he does not want to see the situation escalate into a war, but parliament has already authorized an invasion of Syria and there seems to be interest in turning Turkey’s recent bellicosity into full-scale actions.
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davidgrayling
October 7th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
Are we going to witness a Turkey Shoot?
Better get Cheney to the Middle East.
He wouldn't miss it, a barbaric beast.
@revolutionXX
October 8th, 2012 at 2:39 am
No nonsense that doesn't become a headline here …..
Syria would NEVER never never shell Turkey, because NATO tries since two years to get a reason for attacking.
mojo
October 8th, 2012 at 3:00 am
Syrian government nor the Syrian people have don absolutely nothing to Turk or this sectarian Turkish government to deserve this unjust war. Nor the syrin people and their government have done nothing to rest of this world to be at this situation, continue shelling Syrian teritory shows the fact that the Saudis barbarians with suported USA and Europeans terrorist groups stationed in turkey are losing, they were warned the first time, that Syrian unjust war can become a regional war, this war might end up by everone in the region to be involved, is up to turkey to get the first message otherwise the USA so as the Europeans, including the Neo Liberal fascism from London to Sweden and beyond, are welcome to have more economic problems at home by starving their nations for all wars they have planed for.
Shamsshun
October 8th, 2012 at 11:43 am
These "errant" mortar shells falling in Turkey have the distinct odor of "false flag" attacks launched by the so-called Syrian rebels with the intention of giving Turkey a pretext for direct aggression against Syria, rather than the indirect aggression through the "rebel" proxies that it sponsors so far.There are credible reports that the "heroes in error" mortars are fired from Free (anti-)Syrian Army strongholds and that the shells are of a type supplied by Turkey to its anti-Syrian proxies. If Turkey continues down this path it will make its own soldiers cannon-fodder and itself a pawn of the Wahabi/Salafi Gulf monarchies as well as the neo-imperial neocons in DC, Herzlia. Paris and London. It certainly is not in Turkey's national interest to destroy the society and government of Syria, unless it plans to re-establish the Ottoman Empire, and if that's the plan, it's going to catch hell from each one of the aforementioned co-conspirators.