Syrian military retaliation against Turkey 'madness': PM's chief adviser

Any military retaliation by Syrian against Turkey following an invasion of the Arab republic would be madness and suicide because it would be conducted against a NATO country, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief political adviser, Yalcin Akdogan, has said. "I don't think President Bashar al-Assad would do that. Because that would be on a NATO member country, and the course of events would change. Turkey has the power and the might to defend itself and the existing Syria motion provides this authorization," Akdogan told daily Aksam in an interview. An attack on any NATO member is interpreted as an attack on all members of the alliance and can thus precipitate a collective response against the aggressor. Akdogan warned al-Assad against attacking neighboring countries in the wake of a possible invasion. "Al-Assad's attack on other countries will just speed up his end. But he may create polarization with Israel along the lines of 'this intervention serves the purposes of Israel' [in an effort] to capitalize on support from Muslim countries. They shouldn't be deceived," he said.