New shelling exchange along Syrian-Turkish border

BEIRUT - -Turkey fired retaliatory shells into neighboring Syria on Saturday for a fourth consecutive day after a Syrian mortar projectile again struck Turkish territory, news agencies reported.

The latest exchange comes a day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a fiery address warning that it would be a “fatal mistake” to test Turkey’s resolve in the matter.

“We are not interested in war, but we are not far from it either,” Erdogan said.

World leaders fear a broader regional war arising from the conflict raging inside Syria, where rebels are fighting to oust President Bashar Assad. Turkey has called on Assad to step down and has provided a haven for Syrian rebels and political dissidents.

On Saturday, the Turkish press reported, a mortar shell from Syria landed in a field near the Turkish border village of Guvecci, in Hatay province. No one was hurt, but the incident prompted Turkish batteries to fire volleys into Syria. There was no immediate word on casualties on the Syrian side.

Tensions have been escalating between the two nations since an incident on Wednesday in which shells from Syria killed five people in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, Turkish authorities said. The killings sparked outrage in Turkey and prompted the first in a series of Turkish retaliatory artillery strikes inside Syrian territory.

The reported Syrian shelling of Turkish territory drew condemnation from the United Nations and NATO, of which Turkey is a member.

Syrian officials have assured Russia, Damascus’ ally,  that the deadly strike in Akcakale was a “tragic mistake” and would not be repeated, the Russian press reported. Syria has offered “condolences” to the “Turkish people” but has not apologized for the cross-border strikes or admitted responsibility.

Turkey and Syria share a more-than-500-mile border, parts of which have become caught up in the Syrian conflict. Rebels have seized several Syrian government border posts, while arms and fighters move back and forth across the frontier. There have been reports that Syria has agreed to keep its forces some six miles from the border, but Syrian authorities have not confirmed any such agreement.

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Photo: Turks hold a banner that says "No to war" at a protest in Ankara. Credit: Adem Altanadem / AFP/Getty Images

 

Syria shells long-besieged Homs in extended attack

BEIRUT -- The Syrian military on Friday bombarded the central city of Homs for more than 12 hours in the  longest sustained government attack on the city in months, opposition activists said.

Homs, once a city of 1 million people, has experienced some of the heaviest fighting and bombardment during the more than 18-month conflict. Most residents are believed to have fled the city.

“Today’s shelling is as if they are preparing to storm” parts of Homs, said Abu Fidaa, the name used by an opposition activist reached Friday in Homs’ Khaldiyeh district, one of the targets of Friday’s bombardment. “It’s worse than Gaza.”

The shelling lasted from about 7 a.m. until after 7 p.m., he said.

Homs was the principal urban battlefield in Syria long before Damascus and Aleppo, the two largest Syrian cities, became major combat zones in recent months. But Homs has remained a heavily contested area and the site of major clashes despite the media focus on fighting in the other cities.

Some neighborhoods of Homs are largely deserted, filled only by rubble and battered buildings, witnesses say. Yet they say life has returned to some sense of normality in other districts where there has been less fighting.

The official Syrian government news service reported Friday that more than 20 terrorists, the government label for opposition fighters, were killed in military attacks on several districts of Homs.

Elsewhere in Syria, opposition forces said they had shot down a helicopter near Damascus. There was no independent corroboration of the report.

Meanwhile, the Turkish media reported that the Turkish military conducted retaliatory fire  into Syria on Friday for the third consecutive day. The Turkish strike followed word that a mortar from the Syrian side had fallen in the southern Turkish province of Hatay. No injuries were reported on the ground in Turkey. Turkey has vowed to retaliate against Syria for any strikes across the nation’s more than 500-mile border with Syria.

 On Wednesday, an apparent mortar shell from Syria struck the Turkish border town of Akcakale, killing five people. That incident drew international outrage and prompted Turkish artillery to fire back at Syrian batteries believed to be involved in the incident.

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Photo: An image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on outside reporting, shows smoke rising from houses after government shelling in Homs, Syria, on Oct. 5, 2012.  Credit: Shaam News Network / Associated Press

Turkey shells Syrian targets but says war not on agenda

 
BEIRUT -- Turkey on Thursday resumed retaliatory shelling of targets inside Syria, but a top Turkish official said Ankara had "no interest" in declaring war on its neighbor, according to various reports.

Turkey began artillery attacks Wednesday on Syrian positions near the border district of Tal Abyad, Syrian opposition representatives said, and the Turkish bombardment reportedly continued early Thursday.

A top aide to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on his Twitter account that a full-blown war with Syria was not Ankara's aim, Turkey's English-language Hurriyet Daily News reported on its website.

"Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria," wrote Ibrahim Kalin, according to Hurriyet. “But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary."

Turkish officials seemed satisfied that the artillery fire had signaled their outrage about Syrian shelling inside Turkey that caused several deaths. Turkey's move followed a number of Syrian actions that the Turks viewed as provocative, including the downing of a Turkish fighter jet over the eastern Mediterranean in June, killing two pilots.

Still unclear is how Syria will respond to the Turkish bombardment.

Turkey responds to shelling attack with artillery fire into Syria

This post has been updated. See note below.

BEIRUT — Turkey said Wednesday that it had retaliated with artillery fire against neighboring Syria after a shelling attack from Syria struck a Turkish border town, killing five people.

The Turkish response was the most serious escalation to date in what had been an angry war of words between Turkey and Syria stemming from Syria’s 18-month civil conflict.

Turkey has called for the resignation of Syrian President Bashar Assad, once a close ally.

The retaliatory attack raised the possibility of a wider armed conflict between the two nations, which share a more than 500-mile border. Both have large military forces.

There was no immediate public response from Syria.

Turkish authorities reportedly asked for an emergency meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies about the incident.

A statement from the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish artillery had “immediately” fired “on points in Syria that were detected with radar, in line with the rules of engagement,” the Associated Press reported.

The statement appeared to allude to Turkish tracking of shells from Syria that Wednesday hit the Turkish border town of Akcakale, killing five civilians and injuring at least 8 other Turks, including several policemen. The official Anadolu Turkish news agency said the shells were fired by the Syrian military.

The shelling provoked outrage in Turkey. Residents of the town marched on the offices of the local district governor and demanded action.

Syrian rebels had previously occupied the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad, just across the border from Akcakale. Syrian forces had been shelling the Syrian border town in an apparent attempt to target rebels.

After news of the casualties on the Turkish side, word came late in the evening that the Turks had retaliated with artillery fire against Syria.

Turkey has beefed up its forces after several cross-border incidents stemming from Syria’s ongoing civil strife. In June, Syrian antiaircraft batteries shot down a Turkish fighter jet off the Syrian coast. Two Turkish pilots were killed.

[Updated 4:50 p.m. Oct. 3: Turkey did not disclose where their retaliatory strikes were aimed. But Syrian rebels said Turkish batteries were striking Syrian artillery positions just across the border from Akcakale, where the five civilians were killed.

A Syrian rebel official who goes by the name of Abu Muatasem said Turkey had fired dozens of shells at a Syrian artillery emplacement near the Syrian town of Tal Abyad, which is adjacent to Akcakale. Syrian rebels seized Tal Abyad two weeks ago, but Syrian forces have continued to bombard rebels based  there. The Turkish artillery barrage appeared to put an end to the Syrian military shelling, the rebel official said.

Late Wednesday, Syria’s official  state news service said Syrian authorities were investigating the source of the attack that killed the Turkish citizens.  Syria offered “sincerest condolences” to the Turkish people.]

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--Patrick J. McDonnell. Special correspondent Rima Marrouch and a Times staff writer in Beirut contributed to this report.

Fugitive Iraqi vice president slams 'kangaroo court' [Video]

From the safe haven of Turkey, the fugitive Iraqi vice president on Monday slammed his conviction for plotting death squads against his rivals as a politically slanted sham, insisting on his innocence.

Tariq Hashemi was sentenced to death by hanging Sunday on the terror charges, the culmination of a hotly debated case that he and his allies say is meant to push the Sunni Muslim leader out of power. Critics claim Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his government have favored the country's Shiite Muslim majority and sidelined Sunnis, fueling resentment in a country still reeling from sectarian attacks.

Hashemi first fled to the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq in December after the accusations against him emerged. In his absence, a Baghdad court convicted the vice president and his son-in-law of orchestrating the murders of an attorney and a security official, handing down their sentences on Sunday.

In a news conference Monday in Ankara, the Turkish capital, the vice president alleged the trial was carried out by a "kangaroo court" and told reporters the death sentence was like “a medal on my chest.”

Boat filled with Syrians, Iraqis sinks off Turkey; scores dead

A fishing boat packed with Syrians and Iraqis hoping to reach Europe struck rocks and sank off the coast of western Turkey, drowning scores of people, Turkish media reported Thursday.

The boat sank off the Turkish province of Izmir, and the governor there said the death toll had reached 61, including 28 children and three infants, the Anadolu news agency reported. Turkish television showed rescue boats ringing the stricken vessel, which had sunk below the surface. Rescue divers worked to free people trapped underwater in the wreckage.

Turkish media reported that 46 people were rescued from the Aegean Sea, most of them Syrians and Iraqis who had hoped to reach Britain with the help of smugglers. The boat captain and his assistant survived and were detained by police, according to local media.

Refugees from Syria have poured into Turkey and other neighboring countries. The numbers have been so vast that Turkey has left thousands waiting at its border as it tries to process all the newcomers. More than 80,000 Syrian refugees are already taking shelter in the country, the Turkish government said.

More than 103,000 flee Syria in August in biggest outpouring yet

More than 103,000 refugees fled Syria in August, more than any other month since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began nearly a year and a half ago, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday.

The August outpouring nearly doubled the number of Syrians registered or waiting to be registered as refugees to more than 235,000, the U.N. agency said, a reflection of the grave escalation of violence in the embattled country. Thousands more refugees may still be uncounted.

The exodus has flooded neighboring countries with refugees in need. Turkey, which says it is already hosting more than 80,000 Syrian refugees, has left its borders open but roughly 8,000 people are believed to be waiting to cross because of the backlog in processing.

Syrian refugees number more than 210,000; seven die at sea

Seven Syrians fleeing their country on a fishing boat have died off the north coast of Cyprus, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday, in what appears to be a new hazard as refugees pour out of the bloodied nation.

Four men, one woman and two children died as the vessel sank late last week, the U.N. agency said. The deaths at sea are the first such fatalities among Syrian refugees that the agency is aware of, spokesman Adrian Edwards said, though they were not the first Syrians to attempt the trip. Scores of Syrian refugees were reportedly aboard a boat intercepted off Italy earlier this month.

The vast majority of Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries by land rather than taking to the seas, Edwards said. About 15,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Europe since the uprising began, he said, a fraction of the more than 210,000 Syrians now registered as refugees or waiting to register.

The flow of refugees has turned into a deluge in recent weeks as violence has intensified, the U.N. says. Last week, more than twice as many Syrians surged into the Jordanian refugee camp of Zaatri than the week before, officials said. Growing numbers of unaccompanied children are among them.

The outpouring is even more dramatic at the Turkish border, where up to 5,000 people are arriving every day, a tenfold increase over previous weeks, officials said.

Iran earthquakes death toll rises to 300; relief efforts criticized

TEHRAN — The death toll from twin earthquakes rose to 300, officials said Sunday, as rescue efforts in northwest Iran continued and more bodies were expected to be found.

But some witnesses complained that the government was not aiding the efforts of residents and private agencies to rescue possible victims of Saturday's tremors.

"From the first minutes in the aftermath ... the survivors rushed to unearth the dead and alive and injured and that rescue goes on," said a witness in one of the affected towns. "But official rescues halted or seem to have stopped, as there is no hope of any alive to be unearthed and the number of Red Crescent rescue team is not big enough and few of them are trained enough."

Air-rescue operations were suspended hours after the earthquakes, one of them measuring a magnitude 6.2, struck as night fell and helicopters were unable to fly in the dark in the mountainous region.

Much of the efforts now are said to be about providing food and shelter for the survivors.

Syria's first astronaut reportedly defects to Turkey

BEIRUT — Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Fares, who as part of a joint program with Russia was the first Syrian to travel into space, has fled to Turkey after defecting from the Syrian army, according to the the semi-official Turkish Anatolia news agency.

In a YouTube video, Fares, a military aviator, visited a rebel  base in Aleppo, his hometown, before heading to Turkey.

In the video Fares tells the rebels, "May God give you strength," adding that "our hearts are with you" and "we have always been with you." Reportedly, he told the rebel commander that it is his fourth attempt to defect.

The opposition says some two dozen Syrian generals have defected to rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad.