海角大神

鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

After a week of cross-border artillery and mortar exchanges between Turkey and Syria in response to Syrian shelling, a top military commander today said Ankara would launch an even tougher response if Syrian shells continue to land in Turkey.

鈥淲e retaliated immediately, we also inflicted losses,鈥� a Turkish news agency quotes Gen. Necdet Ozel, chief of the Turkish general staff, as saying about the shelling, which killed five in a Turkish border town last week, reports Bloomberg. 鈥淚f it continues, we will make a stronger response,鈥� Ozel said.

Ozel didn鈥檛 expand on the kind of added force Turkey could use against Syria, but his statement comes almost a week after Turkey鈥檚 parliament authorized military offensives into foreign countries, including Syria. And yesterday, NATO said it was drawing up plans to defend Turkey in the case that Syria鈥檚 war spilled over the border again, reports Reuters.

鈥淲e have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary,鈥� NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Ramussen said in Brussels, noting that the 28-member NATO alliance, of which Turkey is a member, was holding out hope that an alternative path could be found.

Turkey has reinforced its 566-mile border with Syria, but tensions have escalated as Turkey has reached out to Syrian rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad over the course of the 19-month conflict.

Today, several mortars landed in Turkey across from the Syrian border town of Azmarin, and heavy gunfire could be heard from Turkey, according to a separate Reuters report. Whether the shells are intended for Turkey 鈥� or are simply due to Syrian troops overshooting their rebel targets 鈥� is unclear.

The United Nations and activist groups place the death toll of the Syrian conflict between 20,000 and 30,000 people.聽 An estimated 100,000 refugees fleeing the violence in Syria are now housed in Turkish camps. But Turks living near the Syrian border have experienced the day-to-day terror of Syria鈥檚 ongoing conflict as well, as described by Reuters:

Though Turkey was the first nation to retaliate militarily against Syria, Syria is not looking for a military confrontation, Jihad Makdissi, Syria鈥檚 Foreign Ministry spokesman, told Bloomberg in a phone interview today.

鈥淪yria is in a self-defensive mode and we will act accordingly, but we are not looking for any military confrontation,鈥� Mr. Makdissi said. 鈥淲hat happened was an incident not an attack. This incident is because of the presence of armed groups in that area.鈥�

Turkey has criticized the international community for what it sees as a lack of support as the Syrian conflict heightens, reports the Wall Street Journal.

But others say Turkey and the international community should be wary about participating, even tangentially, in Syria鈥檚 civil war, sending weapons to rebel fighters, or even nonlethal aid. The Independent鈥檚 Robert Fisk compares perspectives on the Syrian conflict to those held about Northern Ireland and the IRA during that conflict:

On Monday, President Abdullah Gul advocated for the international community to be 鈥渕ore active鈥� on Syria as the war-torn country faces 鈥渢he worst-case scenario,鈥� reports the WSJ.