Turkey inserts itself into the Syris civil war as other combatants get ready.... meanwhile check out the FSA - who or what are they really and why is the West and GCC supporting them anyway ?

http://www.infowars.com/panetta-warns-conflict-between-syria-and-turkey-may-produce-regional-war/

Panetta Warns Conflict Between Syria and Turkey May Produce Regional War

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 7, 2012

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday that the conflict on the border between Syria and Turkey may spread to neighboring countries and create a regional war.Turkey continued shelling of Syrian targets on Sunday in what Al Arabiya describes as immediate retaliation after a mortar round allegedly fired from Syria hit the southeastern Turkish border village of Akcakale where five civilians were killed last week.

Akcakale is a key supply route for the CIA’s Free Syria Army and other so-called rebels.

On Wednesday, the New York Times conceded that “was unknown whether the mortar shells were fired by Syrian government forces or rebels fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The Turkish response seemed to assume that the Syrian government was responsible,” despite conclusive evidence.

The United Nations Security Council condemned Syria for the incident and on October 4 Turkey’s parliament voted to violated Syrian national sovereignty and authorize cross-border military operations.

Prior to the alleged mortar incident in Turkey, a Russian diplomat warned that “radical members of the Syrian opposition might deliberately provoke cross-border conflicts for their own benefits.”

According to Bloomberg, Syria has agreed to honor a “buffer zone” of ten kilometers on the border, although this was not officially announced by the al-Assad government.

According to Tony Cartalucci, the border zone idea is not new. “While the idea of a buffer zone is meant to look like a knee-jerk reaction to a still unjustified exchange of fire on the Turkish-Syrian border, with lingering conflicting reports over who was responsible for initially targeting the Turkish town of Akcacle, in reality this has been planned since at least March of this year” by the Brookings Institution, a think tank funded by the usual corporatist and globalist suspects, including the Carnegie Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase, the United Nations and the Gulf emirate of Qatar.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-07/turkish-syrian-artillery-exchanges-resume-sunday

Turkish-Syrian Artillery Exchanges Resume On Sunday

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/07/2012 11:57 -0400

• Reuters
 
• Turkey

The Syrian-Turkish artillery exchanges are becoming a nearly daily tradition: first on Wednesday, when NATO member countries had to be woken up late at night at the request of Turkey to opine on whether Syria had breached Article 4 (leading to a lot fo harsh language by Hillary Clinton), then again on Friday, and now on Sunday, when Syria, (or at least various Al Qaeda factions inside of it, presumably not those endorsed by Turkey) is once again provoking Turkey by firing into the same location as on the previous two occasions, leading to the inevitable Turkish retaliation. All this of course is happening as Turkey deploys ever more military at its Syria border. One of these days, after the latest Syrian 'provocation', Turkey will just snap and invade, taking advantage of the Bill recently passed in Parliament which gives the country permission to invade Syria if it so chooses in retaliation, and of course of NATO's unconditional backstop. And just to add spice to the situation, an unidentified drone will quietly fall out of the skies just because.

From Reuters:

Turkey's military fired an artillery round into Syria on Sunday in immediate retaliation after a shell fired from Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, broadcasters said, the second such incident in five days.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria on Friday that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked, but a series of mortar bombs fired from Syria have hit Turkey since then.

There were no casualties when the latest Syrian shell hit land near a plant belonging to the Turkish Grain Board (TMO), several hundred metres from the centre of Akcakale, where five civilians were killed on Wednesday in previous Syrian shelling.

The exchanges are the most serious cross-border violence in Syria's conflict, which began as pro-democracy protests, but has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the shells fired from Turkey landed near the Syrian town of Tel Abyad.

Broadcaster NTV said the shell from Syria landed in the garden of the TMO plant near storage silos. It said the silos had suffered some damage from shrapnel.

Before the latest strike into Turkey, the Syrian military had fired seven artillery shells on Sunday into an area close to the Syrian customs building, which is around 300 metres from the border and under the control of rebel forces, Dogan said.

People were reportedly killed in those strikes and two Syrians wounded in the strikes were carried through the border fencing and taken to a hospital in Akcakale, Dogan said.

As a reminder: "an online video purporting to be from Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group accused of ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility."

As a further reminder, from before the first artillery exchange: "Turkey’s national air carrier, Turkish Air, has been transiting Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants from North Waziristan in Pakistan to the Turkish borders with Syria, sources revealed on Saturday, mentioning that the last group were flown to Hatay on a Turkish Air Airbus flight No. 709 on September 10, 2012. The Turkish intelligence agency sent 93 Al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists from Waziristan to Hatay province near the border with Syria on a Turkish Air Airbus flight No. 709 on September 10, 2012 and via the Karachi-Istanbul flight route,” the source told FNA on Saturday, adding that the flight had a short stop in Istanbul."

And so on.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-10/06/c_131890782.htm

Turkey deploys military vehicles along border with Syria

English.news.cn   2012-10-06 21:52:03

ANKARA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Military vehicles of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) were deployed in southeastern Turkey along the border with Syria on Saturday, the semi-official Aanatolia news agency reported.

The vehicles sent to Suruc town of the southeastern Sanliurfa province included a large number of tanks and missile defense systems, according to the report.

Turkey and Syria have been exchanging fire sporadically on the border for four days after a mortar shell from the Syrian side fell Wednesday in the Turkish border town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province and killed five Turks.

The Turkish government said Wednesday in a statement that "Our armed forces in border region have given the required response in line with the rule of engagements. Targets in Syria, which were detected by radar, were shot by shelling."

"Turkey will never remain unresponsive against these sorts of provocations of Syrian regime within the framework of rules of engagement and international law," the statement said.

In an emergency session on Thursday, the Turkish parliament approved a motion for cross-border military operations inside Syria.

Ankara has been complaining about the spillover of Syrian artillery and gunfire into its territory, and has last week said it would act if mortar strikes were repeated from Syria.

Turkey, once an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but now a leading voice urging his ouster, shelters over 90,000 Syrian refugees and has reportedly provided Syrian rebel army leaders with sanctuary.

and....





http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/10/201210673048533940.html

Turkey fires back after new Syrian shelling

Turkish army fires mortar after Syrian round lands near village of Guvecci, second exchange of fire in as many days. Last Modified: 06 Oct 2012 12:03 inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback

The Turkish prime minister has warned in escalation, but many in Ankara feel further military action is a bad idea

Another mortar shell from Syria has struck Turkish territory, prompting a fourth straight day of retaliatory artillery fire from the Turkish side. The mortar landed in a rural area near the village of Guvecci early on Saturday morning, just minutes after intense fighting broke out between the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the rebels in the village of Harabjoz, in Syria's Idlib province, the private Dogan news agency reported. No one was hurt by the mortar, which landed some 500 metres outside of the village. But Turkish artillery based at an army battalion near Guvecci immediately responded with "counter-fire," the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Villagers rushed out of homes and gathered at a safer point in the village, away from the border area. The latest shelling comes a day after Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Syria not to test Turkey's "limits and determination" and insisted that his country "was not bluffing" with its warnings. Al-Assad's rare public appearance Also on Saturday, al-Assad made a rare public appearance when he laid a wreath at the country's Unknown Soldier statue in Damascus to mark the 1973 war with Israel, also known in Syria as the October War. Syrian state television broadcast the ceremony. In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria The Syrian likened the current crisis to the war with Israel. Damascus denies it is facing a popular uprising, instead blaming the violence on a foreign conspiracy linked to its support for anti-Israeli groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah. "There are few differences between the current aggression and the circumstances during the October War, as Syria is facing an enemy armed with Western and Israeli weapons aiming at destroying the Syrian state and punishing its people for foiling all the hegemonic and hostile schemes planned for the region," the official news agency SANA commented. Lebanese security officials meanwhile said Syrian troops backed by warplanes and helicopters gunships began a major attack against rebel-held areas near the Syrian town of Quseir adjoining Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The Lebanese-Syrian border has also been the site of deadly border incidents. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said no shells fell on the Lebanese side of the border on Saturday. They added that Lebanese troops were put on high alert in the border area to make sure the fighting does not reach Lebanon. The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, reported intense shelling at rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo and the central city of Homs. They said the government shelling of the town of Taibeh near Homs killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens. And the FSA is what again ?  http://www.infowars.com/fsa-rebel-we-wont-stop-until-al-qaeda-flag-raised-over-white-house/ FSA Rebel: ‘We Won’t Stop Until Al-Qaeda Flag Raised Over White House’ Infowars.com October 6, 2012 Press the ‘CC’ button on the video to turn on subtitles. These are the guys the Obama administration is funding with hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. “We started our holy war here and won’t finish until this (Jihadis Banner) will be raised on top of the White House. Keep funding them, you always do that, remember? Al Qaeda for instance.”   FLASHBACK: New Video Shows Obama-Backed Syrian Rebels Burning U.S. Flag FLASHBACK: Video: Syrian Rebels Burn American Flag FLASHBACK: French Surgeon: Half of Rebels In Syria Are Al-Qaeda Terrorists And as War looms , the various combatants get organized..... UN Condemns Suicide Bombings in Syria Statement Condemns Aleppo Bombing 'in the Strongest Terms' by Jason Ditz, October 05, 2012 Print This | Share This The UN Security Council has issued a statement today condemning “in the strongest terms” four suicide bombing attacks in the city of Aleppo. The resolution came at the behest of Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari. Resolutions condemning specific attacks, particularly those carried out by rebel factions, are unusual. The Aleppo bombings were carried out by a group called al-Nusra, a jihadist faction accused of ties with al-Qaeda. Syria had initially sought the resolution yesterday, when the UN Security Council wasdebating a resolution condemning a Syrian mortar attack that killed five civilians in Turkey. Russia sought to switch the resolution to one urging restraint along the border, which sparked anger among Western nations. The Security Council has struggled with Syrian resolutions because of the Russia-NATO split, with Russia fearing most NATO resolutions are going to be spun as a pretext for war, as last year’s Libya resolution was. Some NATO member nations like France are overtly calling for intervention, so that fear seems at least somewhat reasonable. http://www.infowars.com/nato-ready-to-intervene-in-syria/ NATO ready to “intervene” in Syria? Rick Rozoff and John Robles globalresearch.ca October 06, 2012 Rick Rozoff,  manager of the Stop NATO website comments on NATO’s emergency meeting surrounding the situation on the Turkish/Syrian border and its role in the region. He claims that: “NATO countries and their Allies in the Persian Gulf aren’t going to back down no matter what Syria does.” There’s no definitive proof right now that the mortar shells that landed in the Turkish village, resulting in the tragic deaths of 5 civilians and the wounding, I believe of 8 others, was the result of Syrian government shelling. It has not been established that this was fired by Syrian government forces, and as you indicate the fact that there are ragtag groups of insurgents,  we don’t even know the nationality in many instances, but, with different political orientations and different agendas, gives us reason to believe that the mortar shell or the explosion could have been caused by them, by the rebels as well as by the Syrian government. However, I think it’s imperative that we recall that just the preceding day there were 2 terrorists bombings in the Syrian city of Aleppo that killed as many as 50 people, killed as many as 50 people, wounded as many as 122, by recent accounts I have seen. This is a city very close to the Turkish border. And, ah, you know, it defies logic to, ah, to not take into account the fact that these terrorist atrocities could well have been committed by individuals who have been allowed free passage across the Turkish border. We have to recall that no other country would tolerate this sort of armed attack from a neighboring state without some kind of action.… …but this is something countries do: they defend their borders! And to suggest that Syria has no right to do that is evidently, as the West maintains, is first of all foolhardy and is another example of double standards.” I don’t think the issue was that they were defending. They’re saying that Syria bombed first apparently. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Nobody in their right mind is going to suggest that the Syrian government intentionally launched mortar attacks inside Turkey. The very worst thing the Syrian government can be accused of doing is miscalculating and accidentally firing a mortal shell across the border. This is something entirely different than a planned act against the neighboring nation. The NATO Council met last night and they have come out warning Syria to stop its “aggression against Turkey”. What do you make of this statement? “This was an emergency meeting of North Atlantic Council, it is one of the few occasion where it has met at night, to underline the urgency of this. And the actual NATO statement includes the following passage, and this verbatim:“In the spirit of indivisibility of security and solidarity deriving from the Washington Treaty, that is the founding treaty of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an Ally.” That’s part of the statement. And Anders Fogh Rasmussen was also quoted, stating, his concerns about events, and I am quoting him here: “On our South-Eastern border.” That is the Turkish-Syrian border is now officially proclaimed as NATO’s South-Eastern border. Suggesting strongly, that NATO sees this as an attack against the entire military alliance as well as against Turkey…. ….What was discussed at the meeting was the so-called Article 4 provision in the Washington Treaty, or what’s actually called the North Atlantic Treaty, the founding document of NATO: which states, “The parties that are NATO member states will consult together whenever in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened.” That certainly suggests that NATO once again reserves the right to respond collectively in alleged defense of Turkey.” Would you agree that they’re just waiting for the right chance to invade Syria? “That’s exactly it. What’s remarkable is the very day before, whatever the nature of the incident is that resulted in the deaths of the Turkish civilians near the border, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Genady Gatilov warned reporters of potential NATO intervention against Syria! The quote from him says, “In our contacts with our partners both in NATO and in the region we’ve called upon them not to look for pretext in order to carry out a military operation.” That’s a quote from the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister. And, ah, a paraphrase of his comment stated explicitly that some provocation could occur at the Turkish-Syrian border that may give NATO the green light to intervene in Syria, so, within 24 hours or perhaps less precisely such an event occurs. Hypothetical, if you will: What if Bashar al-Assad comes out, he condemns the deaths of the five Turkish citizens and initiates an investigation? Would that stop NATO, do you think? The Syrian government has already expressed regret over the deaths of the Turkish civilians without being able to establish the cause of those deaths. And, ahem, my assumption will have to be at this point, that the “fix-is-in” and that no matter what the Syrian government says or does, Western plans – that is plans of NATO nations and their Gulf Cooperation Council allies in the Persian Gulf, they’re not going to back down. They are nothing if not relentless…. http://news.antiwar.com/2012/10/05/syrias-kurds-head-to-iraq-to-prepare-for-war/ Syria’s Kurds Head to Iraq to Prepare for War Peshmearga Training Syrians to Fight Against Either Assad or Rebels by Jason Ditz, October 05, 2012 Print This | Share This Syria is quickly and violently factionalizing, with the various rebel factions seizing territory in the north and the regime consolidating its gains around the capital city of Damascus. War is raging nationwide. And then there’s the northeast. Oil rich northeastern Syria, the nation’s Kurdish region, has so far declined to take sides in the ongoing Civil War, but locals don’t see themselves being able to stay on the sideline forever, and many are flocking to Iraqi Kurdistan to prepare. But what are they preparing for? That’s not clear at all, as the locals train with the Peshmearga, the militia of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and see the possibility of fighting either the Assad regime or the rebels. Some estimates say that 25,000 Syrian Kurds are now in KRG-run camps for training, but exact details are scant as they are kept from leaving during their training. The Assad regime has mostly pulled out of the area to focus on the civil war, and a few bombings aside the rebels haven’t showed much interest in it either. How long this will last remains to be seen. The Security Council has struggled with Syrian resolutions because of the Russia-NATO split, with Russia fearing most NATO resolutions are going to be spun as a pretext for war, as last year’s Libya resolution was. Some NATO member nations like France are overtly calling for intervention, so that fear seems at least somewhat reasonable.