Turkey attacks Syrian sites

The headline is mine taken from RT's more realistic response. The subtitle is the headline from NZ media.

Will this be the pretext for all-out war against Syria? Let's se.

Turkey strikes Syrian targets retaliating for mortar strikes across border

Nato demands end to aggressive acts against Turkey

TVNZ,

4 October, 2012

Nato has demanded an immediate cessation of aggressive acts against Turkey after a mortar bomb fired from Syria killed five civilians in a border town.

Turkey launched strikes against targets inside Syria in response to the attack, which killed five people in the town of Akcakale.

In a statement, Nato said that it stood by Turkey and urged Syria to put an end to "flagrant violations of international law".

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office earlier said Ankara was responding to "provocation by the Syrian regime".

"Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar," the statement said.

"Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security."

'Last straw'

There were no immediate details of the Turkish strikes against Syria, nor was it clear who had fired the mortar into Turkish territory.　

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said after the mortar attack: "This latest incident is the last straw. Turkey is a sovereign country. Its own soil has been attacked."

"There must be a response to this under international law," he said, according to Turkey's Cihan news agency.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had spoken by telephone with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the foreign ministers of several UN Security Council member countries about the incident, Erdogan's statement said.

It said Davutoglu had also agreed with Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the need for an emergency meeting of Nato members.

Nato ambassadors to gather

A Nato official confirmed that ambassadors would meet in Brussels on Wednesday evening.

The official said the ambassadors would gather under Article 4 of the Nato charter, which provides for consultations when a member state feels its territorial integrity, political independence or security is under threat.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement urging the Syrian government to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbours, warning that the 18-month-long conflict in Syria was increasingly harming other countries in the region.

"Today's incidents, where firing from Syria struck a Turkish town, again demonstrated how Syria's conflict is threatening not only the security of the Syrian people but increasingly causing harm to its neighbors," it said.

Britain's UN envoy later said that the UN Security Council had discussed the rising tensions between Syria and Turkey and was awaiting a letter from Turkey on the incident before it considered possible moves.

The 15-member council was already in a meeting to discuss other issues when Turkey announced it had struck targets in Syria, he said.

'US outraged'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed outrage at the deaths in Turkey and said Washington would discuss with Ankara on what the next steps should be.

"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," Clinton said.

"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."

Turkey's military response today contrasted with its relative restraint when Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet in June.

Then, Ankara increased its military presence along its 900-km border with Syria and called a Nato meeting under the same article that it invoked today.

That meeting was only the second time in NATO's 63-year history that members had convened under the article.

Some 30,000 people have been killed across Syria, activists say, in an uprising against President Bashad al-Asaad that has grown into a full-scale civil war.

NATO starts emergency meeting over Turkey-Syria border ensions

Press TV,

4 October, 2012

NATO has begun an emergency meeting after shells fired from inside Syria killed five people in southeastern Turkey and drew retaliatory fire from the Turkish side.