After a morning in which Turkey continued shelling Syrian targets in response to the strike, which killed five people, the parliament backed the government’s call for the authorisation of incursions into the neighbouring state.
Although officials in Ankara emphasise that they are not interested in a bilateral military confrontation with Syria – a course opposed by most of the Turkish public – they say it is important to send Damascus a strong message to avoid repetition of this week’s shelling.
But, amid continued fierce fighting between Syrian regime forces and rebels for control of areas bordering Turkey, it remains unclear whether Damascus will rein in mortar attacks that risk crossing the border.
Turkish officials maintain that the latest incidents show how dangerous the crisis in Syria has become – an issue Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, is likely to address in a news conference on Thursday. Despite his aversion to unilateral military intervention, Mr Erdogan has been campaigning for a UN-backed buffer zone in Syria – so far, without success.
There has been widespread condemnation of the mortar attack, with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, saying she was “outraged”, describing the increasing violence across Syria’s borders as a “very, very dangerous situation”.
Russia, which is the Syrian regime’s chief international ally, on Thursday urged Damascus to state officially that the cross-border firing was an accident and would not happen again, reports quoted foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
Reports from the Turkish border town of Akcakale said a woman and three children were among the dead and that at least nine people were wounded. Several Syrian soldiers were killed in Turkey’s overnight retaliation, Reuters reported, citing the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a pro-Syrian opposition monitoring group.
“In accordance with international law and the rules of engagement, Turkey will never permit this kind of provocation against our national security by the Syrian regime,” said Mr Erdogan’s office, lambasting on Wednesday what it described as an “abominable attack”. Syrian media said sites in the Idlib area had been hit.
Nato ambassadors held a 50-minute night session at Turkey’s request to discuss the alliance’s response under article four of its charter, which allows for consultations on perceived threats, as opposed to article five, a formal declaration that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all. Nato said it strongly condemned the Syrian strike and described the continual shelling of border areas in Turkey as “flagrant violations of international law”.
As Turkey called for “necessary action” from the UN Security Council, Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish foreign minister, discussed the crisis with Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, as well as other officials across the world.
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