Tension escalates along Turkey-Syria border

The two nations’ more-than-500-mile border has become a tinderbox that many fear could become the spark for a regional war that no one seems to want but that appears to be closer than ever.

Turkey has found itself — often uncomfortably — on the forefront of international efforts to confront Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. A series of incidents between the two nations has threatened to export Syria’s civil conflict beyond its borders and pull other powerful players into the struggle.

WW4 File: Syrian civil war portends superpower showdown as Russia and Iran arm Assad, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force shows up in Damascus, reconfirms support for mutual defense pact…

Last Thursday, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council and ex-boss of the Federal Security Service (FSB/KGB), said he had seen intelligence indicating that NATO’s plans for a military incursion into Syria were “well advanced.” Kommersant quoted him as saying:

We are getting information that NATO members and some Persian Gulf states, operating according to the Libya scenario, intend to move from indirect intervention in Syrian affairs to direct military intervention.

This time it is true that the main strikes forces will not be provided by France, the U.K. or Italy, but possibly by neighbouring Turkey, which was until recently on good terms with Syria and is a rival of Iran with immense ambitions.

America and Turkey were even now possibly already refining options for a no-fly zone that would allow armed Syrian opposition fighters to mass in the designated areas.

Russia’s outgoing NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, was more direct. “You shouldn’t interfere in Syrian affairs. This is very dangerous,” he told reporters in Brussels.

With an eye to protecting Russia’s periphery, the combative Rogozin also told reporters that an attack against Iran is the same as an attack against Russia.“Iran is our neighbor,” Rogozin rumbled, “And if Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security. But at the same time, we believe that any country has the right to have what it needs to feel comfortable, including Iran.” Rogozin, referring to this past year’s Arab Spring coups across the Muslim world and the recent assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, warned that more attacks on Iran could cause “a scorching Arab Summer.” For his part, career Chekist Patrushev accused Israel of provoking the USA towards war against Iran, a warning that Interfax published on Friday.

Continue reading article: WW4 File: Syrian civil war portends superpower showdown as Russia and Iran arm Assad, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force shows up in Damascus, reconfirms support for mutual defense pact… (Once Upon a Time in the West)