Turkey warns of global threat from Syria radicals

Ankara/Beirut: Turkish President Abdullah Gul has warned of an emergence of radical Islamists in Syria in the neighbour’s long-running armed conflict.

Addressing the Turkish Grand National Assembly on the commencement of the new legislative year, President Gul said: “Civil war is the most merciless of wars.”

“As these conflicts drag out, radicalism and extremism take root to establish their own infrastructure and threaten not only the country suffering from civil war, but also regional and global stability.”

He said continued inaction of the international community on Syria was unacceptable, while asserting that the survival of the Syrian people “should not be sacrificed to balance-of-power policies and narrow interests”.

To solve the crisis, a “new Syria” should be built, which is in peace with its citizens and neighbours, while its territorial integrity and political unity are kept intact, the Turkish president said.

The “new Syria” should be established after a period of transition, Gul said, adding that there should be no place for” anyone who has committed war crimes or crimes against humanity”.

Turkey, once an ally of Damascus but now a leading voice against it, has reportedly provided Syrian rebel army leaders with sanctuary.

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels and Al Qaida-linked fighters battled near the border with Turkey on Wednesday, activists said, in an outbreak of violence that exposes serious divisions between factions fighting President Bashar Al Assad.

The Al Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of the border town of Azaz last month, kicking out rival rebels and prompting Turkey to shut its border crossing about 5km away.

ISIL, which wants to merge Syria into a larger state ruled by Islamic law, has maintained control of the town since then and clashes have periodically erupted between them and fighters of the Northern Storm brigade they expelled to its outskirts.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources across the country, said heavy clashes had resumed on Wednesday between the two groups.

It said there were reports ISIL fighters were advancing toward Northern Storm bases and checkpoints near the crossing into Turkey and in villages in the outskirts of Azaz.

An activist in the area confirmed fighting had started, but did not have details.

The Syrian rebels have been undermined by infighting, partially over conflicting ideology, but more often over territory, spoils of war and control of resources and smuggling.

ISIL, which is also present in neighbouring Iraq, comprises a larger number of foreign fighters than other hardline Islamist brigades fighting in Syria.