. Medical and Hospital News .




WAR REPORT
Israel in 'direct hits' on Syria targets after Golan fire
by Staff Writers
Jerusalem (AFP) Nov 12, 2012


NATO chief says ready to help Turkey 'if needed'
Prague (AFP) Nov 12, 2012 - NATO is ready to help member state Turkey as the 20-month conflict in Syria is increasingly spilling across the border, the alliance's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday.

"Turkey can rely on NATO solidarity, we have more plans in place to defend and protect Turkey, our ally, if needed," Rasmussen told reporters in Prague, but declined to go into details.

The NATO secretary general also said the transatlantic military alliance still has not received a request from Turkey for a possible deployment of US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missiles.

"But obviously if such a request is to be forwarded the NATO council will have to consider it," he added.

Ankara said last week that it was in talks with NATO about the Patriots but had not made any formal request.

President Abdullah Gul said last week that Turkey reserved the right to defend itself against any threat from Syria, its one-time ally, but that it was "out of the question" that Ankara would start a war.

Syrian forces and rebels have been involved in furious and often deadly fighting in the past week around a Syrian border town, sending thousands more Syrians fleeing into Turkey which has boosted its defences along the volatile frontier.

Turkish forces have systematically retaliated to every cross-border shelling since Syrian fire killed five Turkish civilians on October 3.

Israeli troops fired tank shells into Syria on Monday, confirming "direct hits" on the source of a mortar round that struck the Golan Heights as tensions flared along the ceasefire line.

The exchange marked the second straight day that Israeli troops have been drawn into the Syrian conflict and came just hours after an appeal for restraint from all sides by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

On Sunday, Israeli troops fired a warning shot across the UN-monitored ceasefire line in response to Syrian fire, in the first instance of Israeli fire directed at the Syrian military in the Golan Heights since the 1973 war.

Monday's incident came shortly after a Syrian mortar round struck near an army post in the Israeli-occupied Golan, the military said, warning that any further shooting would be answered with "severity."

A military statement said that a mortar round hit an open area near an army post in the central heights, causing no damage or injuries.

"In response, IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers fired tank shells towards the source of the fire, confirming direct hits," it said.

"Syrian mobile artillery was directly hit," a military source added, without elaborating.

The military statement warned that any further shooting from Syria "will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his government was keeping an eye on developments.

"We are closely following what is going on and will respond appropriately,' he told an audience of diplomats in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon. "We will not allow our borders to be violated or our citizens to be fired upon."

The incident on Sunday, which came after a Syrian mortar round hit an Israeli army position, drew a warning from Defence Minister Ehud Barak that Israel would take "tougher" action in response to any new fire.

"Syria has been in the midst of a brutal civil war for over a year, and the IDF has been instructed to prevent the battles from spilling over," he said in a statement.

"Additional shelling into Israel from Syria will elicit a tougher response, exacting a higher price from Syria," he warned.

After the exchange, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said the UN chief was "deeply concerned by the potential for escalation."

"He calls for the utmost restraint" and urges both sides to uphold the 1974 accord which set up the ceasefire line and surrounding demilitarised zone.

Fears of a spillover of the conflict, which has ravaged Syria for the past 20 months and left tens of thousands dead, have widened as violence has spread to Syria's borders with Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

On Thursday, three stray mortar rounds from Syria hit the Golan, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community.

And on Monday, an Israeli military vehicle patrolling the buffer zone was hit by stray Syrian gunfire.

Israel complained to the United Nations Security Council over the incident, and an earlier one in which three Syrian tanks entered Bir Ajam village, five kilometres (three miles) southeast of Quneitra, in the demilitarised zone.

Since Israel and Syria signed a 1974 agreement on security in the buffer zone, a 1,200-strong unarmed UN force has patrolled it.

.


Related Links






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Get Our Free Newsletters
Space - Defense - Environment - Energy - Solar - Nuclear

...





WAR REPORT
Six Palestinians killed after militants hit Israeli jeep
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Nov 11, 2012
Six Palestinians were killed and 30 injured by Israeli shelling and air strikes after militants fired on an Israeli jeep, wounding four soldiers, medics and witnesses said on Sunday. The flare-up, which began on Saturday, was one of the most serious clashes in a single day since Israel's devastating 22-day operation in the Gaza Strip over New Year 2009. In the latest in a spate of attack ... read more


WAR REPORT
Commentary: Sandy's S.O.S.

Doctors without Border on first US mission

60 migrants feared drowned off Bangladesh

Uranium-polluted water escapes from Finnish mine

WAR REPORT
Gazprom to Launch Two Satellites by Yearend

Research cruise testing EGNOS satnav for ships

Two SOPS accepts command and control of newest GPS satellite

Telit Introduces LTE Module Expanding Automotive Product Line with 4G for North American and European Markets

WAR REPORT
A firm molecular handshake needed for hearing and balance

Weizmann Institute scientists observe as humans learn to sense like a rat, with "whiskers"

Healthy Living Adds 14 Years to Your Life

Bigger human genome pool uncovers more rare variants

WAR REPORT
China's endangered pandas face bamboo shortage threat

S.Asian vultures stable after near-extinction: study

China surveys Yangtze dolphin as extinction looms

Persistent sync for neurons

WAR REPORT
Italy lifts ban on Novartis flu vaccines

Switzerland lifts ban on Novartis flu vaccine

New opportunity for rapid treatment of malaria

Test allows doctors to see disease without microscope

WAR REPORT
China not 'serious' in Tibet immolations probe: Dalai Lama

Grumbling 'volunteers' roped into Beijing crackdown

China leader indicates no major reform imminent

Security increase reported after Tibet protests

WAR REPORT
Piracy will swell again if seas not policed: S.African Navy

Mekong River attackers get death sentences

West African pirates target oil tankers

Pirate killed off Somali coast: NATO

WAR REPORT
Japan's economy shrinks, raising fears of recession

'World's workshop' China aims to reinvent itself

China's Hu calls for new economic growth model

Discord rules EU talks on 2013 budget




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement