Turkish president: Syria experiencing 'worst-case scenarios'
As shelling continued across the Turkey-Syria border, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Monday Turkey would do anything necessary to protect itself, and bloodshed in Syria would only stop with action from the international community.
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Turkey's armed forces have bolstered their presence along the 900 km (560 mile) border with Syria in recent days and have been responding in kind to gunfire and shelling spilling across from the south, where Assad's forces have been battling rebels who control swathes of territory.
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the escalation of the conflict along the Turkey-Syria border, as well as the impact of the crisis on Lebanon, were "extremely dangerous".
"The situation in Syria has dramatically worsened. It is posing serious risks to the stability of Syria's neighbours and the entire region," he told a conference in Strasbourg, France.
Ban said U.N. and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi would be heading back to the region this week.
The exchanges with Turkey are the most serious cross-border violence in Syria's revolt against Assad, which began in March last year with peaceful protests for reform and has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones.
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