Turkey responds to Syrian shelling as Assad makes rare public appearance

Turkish artillery fired into Syria for the fourth day in a row on Saturday, retaliating for mortar shells that landed in Turkish territory. Rebels clashed with Syrian government troops in the border area, activists said, as fears revived that the Syrian crisis could spiral into a regional conflict.         

Later on Saturday, a cautious calm was reported in the Turkish region of Akjakali after the Free Syrian Army took control over the Tal Abyad area and set up checkpoints along the border. The army took the necessary security measures to restore calm at a time when villagers rushed out of their homes and gathered at a safer point in the village, away from the border area.          

In this regard, a Free Syrian Army officer stressed that the FSA does not want to undermine its ties with the “only source of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.”       

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.     

Two mortar shells landed in rural areas near the Turkish village of Guvecci in the early morning and at midday. Both shells prompted Turkey to return fire, Turkey's media reported. The first exchange happened shortly after intense fighting broke out across the border in Syria's Idlib province between Syrian rebels and the forces of President Bashar Assad's regime, the private Dogan news agency reported.         

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels had attacked army positions in the Syrian villages of Khirbet al-Jouz and Darkoush about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Guvecci. Rami Abdul-Rahman, the Observatory's chief, said both sides were exchanging mortar fire in the province where they were located, Idlib.          

The latest tensions with Syria began Wednesday when a Syrian shell hit a home at a Turkish border town, killing two women and three children and sparked unprecedented artillery strikes by Turkey.             

Turkey's parliament on Thursday also voted to allow cross border military operations in Syria, further raising tensions between the neighbors that were once close allies.            


On the field   

On the field, the opposition published a video for dead people allegedly killed in a massacre conducted by the regime in Houla.       

In Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that fierce clashes and shelling have been ongoing since early in the morning in a village in Homs Reef while shelling continued on the al-Khalidiya neighborhood, killing dozens. In Rastan and Aleppo, shelling has not ceased since this morning.    

The Damascus district of Muhajireen has witnessed a heavy deployment of security forces and snipers, accompanied by house raids and inspections.     

Separately, a Russian plane landed in Damascus airport on Saturday, carrying humanitarian and medical aid for the Syrian people, according to a Syrian official.       


Assad makes rare public appearance      

Also Saturday, 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.  


AP/LBCI