Photo Gallery Syria War Pushes against Borders
Turkish soldiers stand guard in Akcakale near the border between Turkey and Syria. In response to deadly shelling from Syria earlier this week, Turkey has hit targets in Syria with artillery.
Numerous soldiers have been moved into Akcakale. Turkey's parliament granted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan broad power to use further military strikes against Syria if it feels threatened. Erdogan said, however, that he had no intention of going to war with Syria.
Turkey has been building up its military presence along the border with Syria for months. The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the attack on Akcakale, while calling on both Turkey and Syria to show restraint.
Turkish military armored personnel carriers take positions on the Turkish-Syrian border near the Akcakale border crossing.
Prime Minister Erdogan is under increasing pressure to respond to the violence spilling beyond Syrian territory. In June, Syrian forces shot down an unarmed reconnaissance jet belonging to the Turkish military.
Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey does not want war, but that it must protect its borders: "We want peace and security and nothing else. We could never want to start a war," he said. "Turkey is a country which is capable of protecting its people and borders. No one should attempt to test our determination on the issue."
Smoke rises from a residential building in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, during clashes between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in August. Chronic Sunni-Alawite tensions in Tripoli have been heightened by the anti-Assad uprising in Syria.
Shiite masked gunmen gather in the southern suburbs of Beirut in August. The Shiite Mekdad clan in Lebanon abducted a Turkish businessman and dozens Syrians it claimed are rebel fighters. The group said the abductions were in retaliation for the kidnapping of one of their relatives by the rebel Free Syrian Army in Damascus.
Syrian refugees arrive in August at the Al Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria. The Syrian-Jordanian border experienced an hour-long skirmish in August between Jordanian troops and pro-Assad soldiers after the latter fired on Jordanian territory.
Iraqi Police stand guard at the Rabia border crossing, the main border post between Iraq and Syria. Out of fear that fighters from Syria would come into their borders, Iraq has turned away from its borders all male refugees from Syria.
