Syrian officials have ordered military units to increase patrols near the restive Turkish border in what amounts to a warning to its increasingly irate northern neighbour not to establish a buffer zone inside Syria.
Diplomats in Beirut and Ankara believe that the Syrian advance on the border village of Khirbet al-Jouz Thursday – initially portrayed by Damascus as a sweep to rout dissidents – was instead a veiled threat to Turkey, which is steadily turning on President Bashar al-Assad as his regime's fierce crackdown on dissent continues.
Following a speech last week by the besieged Syrian leader, Turkish officials gave Assad a week to begin reforms and stop the violent suppression of protests, in which more than 1,400 people are believed to have been killed in less than four months.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/20/syria-raises-border-tension-turkey
