Syria raises tension with Turkey in new border move

President Bashar al-Assad increases military patrols along frontier to dissuade Turkey from intervening in domestic unrest Syrian officials have ordered military units to increase patrols near the restive Turkish border in what amounts to a warning to its increasingly irate northern neighbour not to establish a buffer zone inside Syria. Diplomats in Beirut and Ankara believe that the Syrian advance on the border village of Khirbet al-Jouz Thursday – initially portrayed by Damascus as a sweep to rout dissidents – was instead a veiled threat to Turkey, which is steadily turning on President Bashar al-Assad as his regime’s fierce crackdown on dissent continues. Following a speech last week by the besieged Syrian leader, Turkish officials gave Assad a week to begin reforms and stop the violent suppression of protests, in which more than 1,400 people are believed to have been killed in less than four months. At least another 18 died and dozens were wounded in fresh nationwide protests on Friday – a relatively low toll compared to the last few Fridays, which have been a weekly flashpoint in the uprising. However, the pattern of anti-government activists being attacked by armed members of the security forces remains the same, and is unlikely to convince Ankara that its former ally is committed to reform. British government officials travelled during the week to the southern Turkish border region to interview Syrians who have crossed the frontier to safety and are now living in refugee camps. A Foreign Office official told the Observer that diplomats were compiling accounts of what happened in the now abandoned border town of Jisr al-Shughour and the villages surrounding it during the first two weeks of June, when the Syrian army mounted a series of raids, followed by a full assault that led almost all of its 41,000 residents to flee, first for the nearby hills and then across to Turkey. Among the claims being investigated are persistent reports that Iranian soldiers had been operating with the Syrian forces. The European Union last week adopted sanctions against three key officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, among them the highly secretive Major General Qassem Suleimani, the leader of its elite al-Quds force, who is widely regarded as the head of all Iran’s clandestine military missions abroad. A senior diplomat in Beirut on Friday said that intelligence agencies had established evidence that Iran had sent weapons and logistical support to Syria, but were yet to determine whether there had been Iranian troops on the ground taking part in the Syrian repression. In a further sign of Turkish unease with Damascus, officials from the country’s Red Crescent, which runs the five refugee camps along the border, no longer seem to be banned from talking to reporters. Concern that describing the accounts of refugees who have fled from violent assaults on northern Syrian villages may embarrass Syrian officials are clearly now less of a factor in Turkey’s estimation. Refugee accounts are being used to compile a referral to the international criminal court, which will be asked to prosecute Assad and key regime officials for crimes against humanity. The referral is being prepared by several rights groups, including Insan, an international organisation that is also compiling testimonies from a growing number of defecting Syrian soldiers. Turkey’s increasing diplomatic anger has made Istanbul an attractive hub for the Syrian opposition movement, which has received scores of defectors in recent weeks. Beirut, which is less than three hours’ drive from Damascus and offers easy access to Syrian citizens, is now considered too dangerous for anti-regime dissidents. “It is a clearing house only,” said one Syrian activist, who directs a network of dissidents across the border. “There are many ways that the regime can get to people here — they don’t even have to be here themselves. They just use their proxies.” At least 1,000 refugees crossed into Lebanon at the Wadi Khaled border point on Friday after an assault on the Syrian city of Homs, Lebanese officials reported. Among those were five men with gunshot wounds. A resident of the border village told the Observer that Syrian army units patrolling near by had opened fire towards the wounded as they tried to enter Lebanon. Syria Bashar Al-Assad Turkey Arab and Middle East unrest Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.