Turkey ups retaliatory strikes on Syria

Turkey launched retaliatory strikes on Syrian targets and lawmakers authorised further military action Thursday, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was not a mandate for war.

Officials said Syria had apologised for the shelling that killed five Turkish nationals the previous day in the border town of Akcakale, sending tensions soaring, and had pledged that such an incident would not happen again.

Parliament met behind closed doors to discuss new military options. Erdogan said there was no intention of going to war with Syria, though he insisted that his nation's borders and citizens would be defended.

"No country should dare test our determination on that," he said, after observers indicated that several Syrian troops died in Thursday's military response.

The UN Security Council condemned Syria "in the strongest terms" for its deadly shelling of Turkey and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged "maximum restraint."

After hours of haggling between Western states on the Security Council and longtime Syria backer Russia, the top UN body issued its statement, which although toughly worded was a rung down from a formal resolution.

"The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the shelling by the Syrian armed forces," the statement said.

Two of Syria's key remaining allies, China and Iran, had earlier urged calm.

The United States said Turkey took "appropriate" and "proportional" action in firing back at Syria, noting that the strikes were "designed to strengthen the deterrent effect.

"It was proportional," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

In Ankara, parliament's emergency morning session agreed to the government's request to authorise military operations inside Syria, with a year-long mandate receiving 320 votes in the 550-seat chamber.

"A need has emerged to take necessary measures and to act in haste and in time in the face of additional risks and threats that may be directed against our country," the cabinet motion stated.

It pointed to Syria's "aggressive actions" on Turkish soil since September 20 despite numerous warnings and diplomatic initiatives.

Security sources told AFP that Turkish shelling was sporadic throughout the night until 0600 GMT Thursday.

But the shelling could resume if necessary, a Turkish official warned.

The action taken was similar to bombing raids that Turkey's army regularly carries out against suspected Kurdish rebel bases in neighbouring Iraq.

Close Damascus ally Russia said Syria had acknowledged the deadly shelling was "a tragic accident."

But a thousand mostly left-wing peace protesters gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square, chanting slogans against the government for the mandate, which they branded a tool for "an imperialist war" against Syria.

Damascus probes shelling

"The Syrian regime is playing a dangerous game," said Riad Kahwaji, who heads the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, suggesting that the flare-up could tip events in favour of the rebels fighting to bring down President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"Turkey can considerably change the balance of power in favour of the rebels, even (if) it doesn't deploy troops into Syria."

Ankara was infuriated by the attack in which a mother and her three children were among the five civilians killed, when a shell smashed through a wall and landed in a courtyard where they had come to prepare their evening meal.

The shell blasts marked the first time that Turkish citizens had been killed by Syrian fire since the uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011.

Several Syrian soldiers were killed in the Turkish riposte, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said, without giving exact figures.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was "outraged" at the Syrian shelling, while France said it constituted "a serious threat to global security and peace."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the incident was "completely unacceptable, not only for Turkey but for the international community as a whole".
Amid the rising tensions, calls for restraint poured in.

The European Union condemned Syria but urged calm from all sides, while Germany voiced hope for a "de-escalation" of the "worsening" situation.

Inside Syria, the army shelled several areas of Aleppo, the country's second city that has been a focal point of the conflict since mid-July, when loyalist forces promised the "mother of all battles" to clear the city of rebels.

In Damascus province, clashes between the army and rebels left at least 21 members of Syria's elite Republican Guards unit dead, the Syrian Observatory said.

More than 31,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad's regime began nearly 19 months ago.

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