Turkey approves military operations in Syria The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitor, said a number of Assad regime soldiers had been killed in the overnight shelling at a base near the town of Tal al-Abyad. The aftermath of a mortar strike launched from within Syria on the town of Akcakale, which killed five people and later prompted retaliatory strikes (Reuters) "Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement," his statement read. Targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar. Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security. The initial mortar attack was a sign of the increasing desperation of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad as it loses control of the north of the country. Earlier, a series of explosions had levelled buildings in Aleppo and killed scores of people, many of them soldiers. On Thursday morning, an explosion in Damascus killed 18 members of the elite Republican Guard. It was regime mortar fire aimed at rebel positions at Tal al-Abyad which fell on the wrong side of the border that triggered the Turkish reply. As well as the five deaths, a number of people were injured, two critically. Syrian fire has previously crossed the border, but these were the first deaths of Turkish citizens recorded as a result. Ankara regularly stages attacks over the Iraqi border aimed at Kurdish rebels using Iraq as a base for attacks inside Turkey, and this action may be a warning to Syria whose own military offensive, particularly its aerial bombardments, have crept ever closer to the frontier. There was no initial indication that this was a precursor to a wider use of force against the Syrian regime. Ibrahim Kalin, an adviser to Mr Erdogan, insisted that Turkey had no interest in a war with Syria and was "protecting its borders." But Mr Erdogan has been pressing for western backing for a "safe zone" in northern Syria, and Nato ambassadors went into an immediate emergency session last night under Article 4 of its charter. A Nato statement accused Syria of "flagrant violations of international law." In New York, Turkey's United Nations ambassador, Ertugrul Apakan, wrote to the presidency of the security council. "This is an act of aggression by Syria against Turkey," he said. The security council was likely to issue a statement "strongly condemning" the Syrian government, though Russia, which has backed the Assad regime and vetoed previous resolutions condemning it in the security council, asked for a delay for further discussions. A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said he urged Turkey to "keep open all channels of communication with the Syrian authorities with a view to lessening any tension," and Damascus to "respect fully the territorial integrity of its neighbours as well as to end the violence against the Syrian people." The attack in Aleppo on Wednesday hit the main Saadallah Jabri Square, the seat of a number of government buildings.