Turkey Turns up Heat on Syria

Turkey has delivered its strongest warning to Syria yet as it made a fresh call on Wednesday for an immediate end to operations, signaling that the failure to do so would lead to serious unspecified steps.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry is preparing to make radical changes to its policy with its Syrian neighbor as Damascus' continues to refuse Ankara's demands for reform.

"This is our final word to the Syrian authorities," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara. "If the operation does not stop, there will be nothing left to say about the steps that will be taken."

Turkey's top Security Council will meet with Turkish President, Abdullah Gul on Thursday to plot a possible reaction towards the actions of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.The meeting will include civilian and military officials. "We are not meeting in optimism but rather frustration," a Turkish diplomat told the Hurriyet Daily News.

Damascus has ignored all condemnations to date. Just days after Davutoglu's visit to Syria last week the government send its military forces into the port of Latakia that activists said killed 31 people taking the death toll for such crackdowns up to 260 this month according to activists, the New York Times reported.

Davutoglu said recent developments in the Syrian cities of Deir ez-Zor and Latakia could not be tolerated. "Turkey has never tolerated operations that could result in civilian casualties so far and we will not tolerate them in the future."

Meanwhile, Turkey is not planning to withdraw its ambassador to Damascus as they will need him to convey their messages, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.