The UN Security Council strongly condemned Syria over its deadly shelling of a Turkish border town as regime forces pounded the city of Homs on Friday in the most intense bombardment in months, monitors said. Calm had returned to the border area and there were no further reprisals, reporter said, and although Ankara's parliament approved further action in Syria after Turkish artillery hit back at Syrian army positions, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there were no plans to go to war. Turkey had demanded strong Security Council action after Syrian fire killed five of its nationals in the border town of Akcakale on Wednesday, including a mother and her three children. After hours of haggling between Turkey's Western allies on the Security Council and longtime Syria backer Russia, the top UN body issued its statement, which although toughly worded was a rung down from a formal resolution. "The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the shelling by the Syrian armed forces," the statement said. The text also urged "restraint" and Guatemala's ambassador to the United Nations, the current council president, said this applied to both Syria and Turkey. Nearly all of the message, however, was aimed at Syria. Saying the shelling "highlighted the grave impact the crisis in Syria has on the security of its neighbours and on regional peace," the council "demanded that such violations of international law stop immediately and are not repeated." Wednesday's incident marked the first time that Turkish civilians have been killed by Syrian fire since the start of an uprising in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.
