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The Grand Turk | ||
Debka so salt: Continuous Turkish artillery barrage cuts out 10-km buffer strip inside Syria | ||
2012-10-04 | ||
Constrained from a substantial military incursion into Syria by US President Barack Obama's veto and Saudi and Qatari refusals to help pay for it,
Thursday morning, Oct. 4 at 0300 GMT, Ankara ordered the Turkish army to keep up its cross-border shelling of Syria after the first bombardment Wednesday night in response to the deaths of five Turkish civilians and eight injured by Syrian mortar shells which exploded in their village. debkafile's military sources report the artillery squads were told to aim primarily at Syrian military targets inside this strip, including bases, outposts and Syrian forces on the move. Several Syrian bases and outposts have been hit so far and a large number of Syrian soldiers killed or wounded. Neither Ankara nor Damascus is offering information on casualties. They have imposed a heavy blackout on events so as to keep them under control and avoid the risk of a full-blown war. It was the first time in the 18-month Syrian uprising that Turkey had staged military action against Syria. The first Turkish barrage was fired as NATO foreign ministers met in emergency session in Brussels and the UN Security Council in New York condemned Syria. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also harshly condemned the Syrian shelling but did not commit to any action against Syria except to state that Washington stands behind Ankara According to our sources, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's hands are tied. When he asked Washington in the last 48 hours whether the Syrian attack would serve as the pretext for imposing a no-fly zone over northern and central Syria with US Air Force participation, the Turkish prime minister encountered a flat refusal.
At the same time, say debkafile's Washington sources, the White House did not rule out a limited Turkish border operation for forcing Syrian troops to go on the run and giving the Syrian rebels greater freedom of movement to cross back and forth for arms supplies and medical treatment. | ||
Posted by:Water Modem |
#4 Especially since it would be a pretext for going after Syrian Kurds |
Posted by: Frank G 2012-10-04 20:54 |
#3 The US getting into a Syrian op is like stepping into dogsh*t. It is a no-no. The Turks did not help us when we needed the 4ID to transit Turkey, we do not need to help them in starting a conflagration. |
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2012-10-04 20:25 |
#2 Sounds like rats nibbling away at a dying carcass. |
Posted by: SteveS 2012-10-04 20:21 |
#1 pushing back refugees and Kurds??? |
Posted by: Raider 2012-10-04 19:20 |