Turkey Deploys Tanks as Syria Tension Continues

Tension between Turkey and Syria continues to increase, and yesterday Turkey moved tanks and missile-defense systems to the border hills overlooking Syria, Bloomberg reports, citing state-run media. Turkey had earlier scrambled jet fighters when a Syrian helicopter got close to the border. "Turkey will retaliate if Syria violates its border again," the foreign minister said today. "We will do what’s necessary. We hope Syria won’t repeat its previous violation of the border," when shells killed five Turkish civilians.

Also today, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had particularly harsh words for the UN Security Council, accusing it of repeating mistakes that led to the 1990s Bosnian massacres, the New York Times reports. "This negligence 20 years ago was explained by the international community being caught unprepared in dealing with the issues of the post-cold-war era," he said at an international conference in Istanbul. "Well, how can the injustice and weakness displayed in the Syrian issue be explained today?" (More Turkey stories.)