Syria

The civil war rumbles on, the rebels seemingly making slow ground but ground nonetheless. There seems no end date to the Assad regime.

Now there is a new and highly unwelcome development. It would appear that Assad's forces have fired mortars into Turkey, killing five people. I know this is difficult, but it would have been best if the Turks had accepted a public apology and buried their dead.

Instead they retaliated. Turkey is the dominant power in the region and vying for some leadership role in the Muslim world. It has vast manpower resources and considerable technical military strength. On top of that it is a member of NATO, and according to its charter an attack on one member of NATO is deemed to be an attack on them all.

Let us just try to leave it there, regretting the perhaps mistaken attack. I am not sure whether this is Turkey's fight, but it is certainly not ours.