Syria’s army battered Aleppo with fierce shelling yesterday and lost several soldiers of its own as Turkish forces hammered their positions for a second day in retaliation for a deadly cross-border bombing.
Turkey’s Parliament yesterday authorised military action against Syria but insisted it was not a mandate for war following deadly cross-border fire that sent tensions soaring.
The vote came as Turkish artillery hit targets inside Syria in retaliation for the shelling that killed five Turkish nationals. In Ankara, the Turkish Parliament met behind closed doors in an emergency session and agreed to the Government’s request to authorise military operations inside Syrian territory.
“Our soil has been the target of aggressive actions by the Syrian Arab Republic Armed Forces since September 20, and they continued despite our numerous warnings and diplomatic initiatives,” the Cabinet motion stated. “A need has emerged to take necessary measures and to act in haste and in time in the face of additional risks and threats that may be directed against our country,” it added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “several” Syrian soldiers were killed when Turkish troops shelled their post, but security and diplomatic sources said the Turks had halted fire for the time being.
Meanwhile forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad also suffered a setback when rebels seeking to overthrow his regime killed 21 members of the elite Republican Guard in Damascus province, said the Observatory.
Syria’s military turned its artillery on the provinces of Deir Ezzor in the northeast, Homs in central Syria and Idlib in the far northwest, said the Britain-based group.
The shelling of Aleppo took place a day after a string of explosions in the heart of the northern city killed 48 people, in an attack claimed by the shadowy Islamist group Al-Nusra Front.
In the Aleppo neighbourhood of Salaheddin, at least six soldiers were killed when rebels attacked their checkpoint.
Another five died and 16 were wounded in a similar attack by the rebels in Quneitra province, near Israeli-occupied areas of the Golan Heights, said the Observatory.
The Observatory said the toll of Republican Guards killed in Qudsaya, west of Damascus, may rise given the ferocity of the violence.
“The rebels likely used a small explosive device, but it was placed near the Republican Guards’ living quarters in Qudsaya,” said its director Rami Abdel Rahman, who added that clashes persisted after the blast.