Turkey Shells Syria After Border Town Gets Hit

Turkish official calls it 'last straw' as NATO prepares to meet
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 3, 2012 3:41 PM CDT
Turkey Shells Syria After Border Town Gets Hit
Smoke rises over Saif Al Dawla district in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday. The Syria-Turkey shelling occurred closer to the border.   (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo)

Syria has all it can do to keep rebels at bay, but its problems may have just gotten bigger. Turkey today said it launched artillery attacks on Syrian targets after Syrian shells struck a Turkish border town and killed at least five civilians, reports al-Jazeera. "The latest event was the last straw," said Turkey's deputy prime minister. "There must be a response for this in international law." Hillary Clinton called it an "outrage," and NATO was preparing to host an emergency summit, reports the BBC.

It's not clear whether Syria shelled the town on purpose, but analysts say it would make little sense for Bashar al-Assad to antagonize his northern neighbor, reports the Wall Street Journal. His troops, however, have been shelling rebel positions in the border region the last few weeks. It's worth noting that Turkey demanded a similar NATO meeting after Syria downed a Turkish jet in June, but nothing much came of it. Earlier today, dozens were killed in explosions in Aleppo, Syria. (More Turkey stories.)

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