Turkey authorizes military action in Syria

AKCAKALE: Turkey’s Parliament authorized yesterday military action against Syria but insisted it was not a war mandate following deadly cross-border fire that sent tensions soaring.
The vote came as Turkey retaliated for the shelling that killed five Turkish nationals.
Western powers urged restraint, with the United States saying it was outraged and France cautioning that the incident threatened global security.
In Ankara, the Turkish Parliament met behind closed doors in an emergency session and agreed to the government’s request to authorize military operations inside Syrian territory.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters that Syria had admitted responsibility for the shelling.
He stressed that the Parliament’s decision was “not a war mandate”, adding however that it would have a deterrent effect.
“Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria. But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary,” Ibrahim Kalin, chief advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said earlier on a website.
The incident prompted a forecast that it could tip events in favor of the militants fighting to bring down Bashar Assad’s regime.
“The Syrian regime is playing a dangerous game,” said Riad Kahwaji, who heads the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA).
“Turkey can considerably change the balance of power in favor of the fighters, even it doesn’t deploy troops into Syria, and limits itself to using its firepower.”
Ankara unleashed artillery shells at its neighbor late on Wednesday after mortar fire crashed on to the Turkish border town of Akcakale.
A Turkish mother and her three children were among five civilians killed in Akcakale. As they were buried yesterday, debris still littered the spot where they died.
The shell smashed through a wall, landing in a courtyard near an olive tree where they had come to prepare their evening meal.
Damascus’s close ally Russia said Syria had admitted that the deadly shelling was “a tragic accident”.
It 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 as a result of the Turkish riposte, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said, without giving an exact figure.
Turkey had demanded that the UN Security Council take action against Damascus over Wednesday’s fire, which drew sharp Western condemnation.
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 calm poured in.
The European Union condemned Syria but urged restraint on all sides, while Germany called for a “de-escalation”, “a measured handling of this worsening situation.”