In a second-day retaliation, Turkey shelled a military position in Syria after its crisis-stricken neighbor set off a mortar bomb that killed five Turkish civilians. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
By NBC News wire services
Updated at 11:42 a.m. ET: AKCAKALE, Turkey --?Turkey stepped up retaliatory artillery strikes on a Syrian border town on Thursday, killing several Syrian soldiers, while its parliament approved further military action in the event of another spillover of the Syrian conflict.?
Seeking to unwind the most serious cross-border escalation in its 18-month-old crackdown on dissent, Damascus apologized through the United Nations for shelling that killed five civilians in southeast Turkey on Wednesday and said it would not happen again, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said.?
Syria's staunch ally Russia said it had received assurances from Damascus that the mortar strike was a tragic accident.
But Turkey's government said "aggressive action" against its territory by Syria's military had become a serious threat to its national security and parliament approved the deployment of Turkish troops beyond its borders if needed.
"Turkey has no interest in a war with Syria. But Turkey is capable of protecting its borders and will retaliate when necessary," Ibrahim Kalin, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, said on his Twitter account.
"Political, diplomatic initiatives will continue," he said.
Esber Ayayadin / Anadolu Agency via EPA
Turkish soldiers and relatives of Gulsen Ozer, who was killed by a mortar bomb from Syria, attend her funeral in Turkey's southeastern border region of Akcakale, Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Thursday.
Turkey hit back after?a mortar hit a residential neighborhood in Akcakale on Wednesday, killing a woman, her three daughters and another woman.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several Syrian soldiers were killed in the Turkish retaliatory bombardment of a military post near Tel Abyad, a few miles across the frontier from Akcakale. It did not say how many soldiers died.
"We know that they have suffered losses," a Turkish security source told Reuters, without giving further details.
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NATO said it stood by member nation Turkey and urged Syria to put an end to "flagrant violations of international law."
A mortar attack fired from Syrian territory killed five Turkish civilians, prompting Turkey to strike back. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
The U.S.-led Western military alliance held an urgent late-night meeting in Brussels to discuss the matter and in New York, Turkey asked the U.N. Security Council to take the "necessary action" to stop Syrian aggression.
In a letter to the president of the 15-nation Security Council, Turkish U.N. Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan called the firing of the mortar bomb "a breach of international peace and security."
U.N. diplomats said Security Council members hoped it would issue a non-binding statement on Thursday that would condemn the mortar attack "in the strongest terms" and demand an end to violations of Turkey's territorial sovereignty.
SANA via Reuters
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Members had hoped to issue the statement on Wednesday, but Russia -- a staunch ally of Syria's, which along with China has vetoed three U.N. resolutions condemning President Bashar Assad's government -- asked for a delay, diplomats said.
'Risks to our national security'
Turkey's parliament had already been due to vote on Thursday on extending a five-year-old authorization for foreign military operations, an agreement originally intended to allow strikes on Kurdish militant bases in northern Iraq.
But the memorandum signed by Erdogan and sent to parliament overnight said that despite repeated warnings and diplomatic initiatives, the Syrian military had launched aggressive action against Turkish territory, presenting "additional risks."
"This situation has reached a level of creating a serious threat and risks to our national security. At this point the need has emerged to take the necessary measures to act promptly and swiftly against additional risks and threats," it said.
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"Our armed forces in the border region responded immediately to this abominable attack in line with their rules of engagement; targets were struck through artillery fire against places in Syria identified by radar," Erdogan's office said in a statement late on Wednesday.
"Turkey will never leave unanswered such kinds of provocation by the Syrian regime against our national security."
Syria said it was investigating the source of the mortar bomb and urged restraint. Information Minister Omran Zoabi conveyed his condolences to the Turkish people, saying his country respected the sovereignty of neighboring countries.
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Some residents of Akcakale abandoned their homes close to the border and spent the night on the streets. Others gathered outside the local mayor's office, afraid to return to their homes as the dull thud of distant artillery fire rumbled across the town.
"We haven't been able to sleep in our own homes for 15 days, we had to sleep in our relatives' houses further away from the border because it's not safe down there," said shopkeeper Hadi Celik, 42, a father of five.
Washington sees Turkey as a pivotal player in backing Syria's opposition and planning for the post-Assad era. The White House said on Wednesday it stood by "our Turkish ally." But Ankara has found itself increasingly isolated and frustrated by a lack of international consensus on how to end the conflict.
Murad Sezer / Reuters
Turkish soldiers patrol near the Akcakale border gate on Thursday.
More Syria coverage from NBC News
Erdogan long cultivated good relations with Assad, but became a harsh critic after Syria's popular revolt began last year, accusing him of creating a "terrorist state." Erdogan has allowed Syrian rebels to organize on Turkish soil and pushed for a foreign-protected safe zone inside Syria.
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Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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