How wars start hardly ever makes sense. Rationality always goes out the window.
ISTANBUL, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Turkish forces fired across the frontier into Syria on Sunday after a shell launched from Syria landed in Turkey's border town of Akcakale, underlining Ankara's warning that it will respond with force to any violence spilling over into its territory.
A Turkish border unit also returned fire after a mortar bomb launched from Syria at around 7 p.m. hit an uninhabited area of Altinozu at the western end of the Syrian border, the Hatay province governor's office said.
NATO member Turkey was once an ally of Assad's but turned against him after his violent response to the uprising in which activists say 30,000 people have died.Turkey has nearly 100,000 Syrian refugees in camps on its territory, has allowed rebel leaders sanctuary and has led calls for Assad to quit. Its armed forces are far larger than Syria's.