BEIRUT: Turkey warned Syria on Friday it would act to protect itself if a Syrian government crackdown on protesters threatened regional security and unleashed a tide of refugees on its borders.
At least five Syrians were shot dead as protesters took the streets following Friday prayers and ahead of a general strike called for Sunday, according to a network of anti-government activists reporting events to a website based in England.
In Homs, the hub of the revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad, they chanted "Syria wants freedom" and "Bashar is an enemy of humanity," Qatar based Al-Jazeera television said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu did not say what action Ankara might take, but he made clear Turkey would not hesitate to insulate the region’s security from tumult in Syria. Turkey shares a 900 km (560 mile) border with Syria.
"Turkey has no desire to interfere in anyone’s internal affairs. But if a risk to regional security arises, then we do not have the luxury of standing by and looking on," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara.
"If a government that is fighting its own people and creating refugees, is putting not only their own security at risk but also that of Turkey, then we have a responsibility and the authority to say to them: ‘Enough!’" he said.
Peaceful demonstrations calling for reform began in Syria in March, inspired by the Arab Spring, but were met almost from the outset by lethal force.
About 4,600 Syrians have been killed in nine months of protest and violent state suppression, according to Syrian activists. Hundreds have fled over the border to Turkey which has established refugee camps.
President Assad says some "mistakes" may have occurred but casualties have been overwhelmingly from the security forces, targeted by "armed terrorist gangs" who are motivated and directed by unnamed foreign influences.
But Syria has been hit by United States and European Union economic sanctions and suspended from the Arab League which is also threatening to impose sanctions.
Russia and China, however, have effectively blocked any similar move at the United Nations and Moscow is warning the west constantly not to interfere in the affairs of its longtime Arab ally.
Killing continues
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 28 demonstrations across the southern province of Deraa, calling for the "overthrow of the regime", on what protesters are calling the "Friday of the Strike of Dignity" planned over the weekend.
Security forces fired into a crowd outside the mosque in Al-Qusayr in Homs province, the Observatory said. In Homs city, one person was killed by gunfire from a checkpoint. Troops surrounded protesters as they came out of two mosques in the eastern city of Deir Al-Zor, and two children were killed in districts of Homs, the activist website reported.
Another person was killed by gunfire outside Damascus.
State television also reported violence but gave a different account. It said a girl was shot by "terrorists" in Deraa and civilians wounded by "terrorist armed groups".
Televised confessions
Davutoglu has proposed that contingency plans be made for a buffer zone along the Syrian border should violence escalate to the point where a mass exodus is threatened.
The NATO allies have called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Assad this week denied all responsibility for civilian deaths and said no orders to kill had been issued by him to the armed forces. Russia, China, Iran and Brazil, among other states, say the West should not interfere.
There has been no threat of Western military intervention from the United States or its allies.
Syrian state television on Thursday aired confessions by "terrorists" bent on destabilizing the country by attacking security forces, killing and sabotage, the state news agency SANA reported.
It said they admitted making and planting bombs but did not elaborate on their alleged political motive for such attacks.
Anti-government activists say three unarmed civilians have died for every security force member killed since March. They say Syrian interrogators use torture to obtain confessions.
"Hani Mahmoud Srour, a terrorist, confessed to his involvement in killings, targeting a security forces patrol, and vandalizing public property in Deraa province," SANA reported.
It said Jamal Al-Mikdad "together with hooded persons" took explosives to a target "in return for 250 Syrian pounds," the equivalent of about $5.
The Syrian army, police, intelligence and security forces, along with non-uniformed pro-Assad militias are held responsible by NATO and Arab League states for ruthless repression.
Defectors from the army and some activists have taken up arms in a Free Syrian Army to defend civilians and attack the security forces. They are believed to number several thousand.
The head of the Arab League, which has threatened to impose sanctions if Syria does not comply with a peace plan and sign an agreement allowing international monitors into the country, said on Thursday "the ball is in the Syrian court".
"What we expect is as soon as possible Syria will accept to sign the protocol," Nabil Elaraby said during a trip to Iraq. "It is up to them. (If) they want to stop the economic sanctions, they sign." –Additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankera, Dominic Evans and Laila Bassam in Beirut
