Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Turkey has assessed that Syrian President Bashar Assad
ordered bombings in the NATO country.

On May 11, at least 43 people were killed and 140 injured when two car
bombs exploded in Reyhanli, a city of 60,000 near the Syrian border.

Officials said the Assad regime was suspected of ordering the attack in
Turkey’s Hatay province, with 25,000 Syrian refugees. Hours later, a third
bombing was reported.

Officials said the Assad regime was believed to have staged attacks in
Turkey, which hosts the Syrian opposition. They said Assad agents have
infiltrated Turkey for assassination and bombings near the Syrian border,
including one on May 11.

“We have to a great extent completed our work toward identifying the
assailants,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said. “We have
established that the organization and assailants have links to the
[Syrian] pro-regime mukhabarat [intelligence] organization.”

“We know that the people taking refuge in Hatay have become targets for
the Syrian regime,” Arinc told Turkish television.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has accused Assad of a
series of attacks during the two-year civil war. The attacks consisted of
car bombings and killings along the Turkish border, including an explosion
in February in Cilvegozu in which 17 people were killed and 30 injured.

NATO has already deployed six Patriot air and missile defense batteries
to counter Syria’s ballistic missile threat. In 2012, the Syrian military
fired more than a dozen Scud Bs toward Sunni rebel strongholds near the
Turkish border.

“There may be those who want to sabotage Turkey’s peace, but we will not
allow that,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “No one should
attempt to test Turkey’s power.”

  Ahmet Davutoglu, Bulent Arinc, mukhabarat, Recep Erdogan, Reyhanli, Turkey officials believes Assad ordered bombings that killed 43