Turkey reinforces Syrian border

BEIRUT — BEIRUT - Turkey deployed anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers and other weapons along its border with Syria on Thursday, a military buildup that came as world powers showed new urgency to resolve the crisis before it ignites the region.

A bomb exploded in central Damascus near a busy market and the country’s main justice complex, wounding at least three people, damaging cars in a parking lot and sending a black cloud rising above the Syrian capital. It was not clear who was behind the bombing.

Much of the violence that has gripped Syria since the uprising began in March 2011 has been sanctioned by the government of President Bashar Assad to crush dissent. Activists have said more than 14,000 people have been killed.

But rebel fighters have been launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several suicide attacks this year have stirred fear that al-Qaida or other extremists may be joining the fray.

Assad told Iranian state TV Thursday that his country still supports him, and he warned that any intervention in Syria will cause a “domino” effect in the region. He has given similar warnings before, saying the entire Middle East will go up in flames if others meddle in his country.

Turkey, a former ally of Syria, has become one of the strongest critics of the Assad regime, and tension between the two countries spiked after Syria shot down a Turkish military plane last week.

A small convoy of Turkish military trucks towing anti-aircraft guns entered a military outpost in the border village of Guvecci, which faces a Syrian military outpost, according to TRT television video.

Several anti-aircraft guns also have been deployed elsewhere along the border. Some trucks were seen carrying self-propelled multiple rocket launchers, the video showed.

Ties between Turkey and Syria have not been this low since the late 1990s, when the neighbors almost went to war.Tensions ran high in the 1980s and 1990s as Turkey developed military ties with Israel and Syria sheltered Turkish Kurd guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Now, Turkey is hosting civilian opposition groups as well as hundreds of military defectors who are affiliated with the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Syria insists the Turkish military plane it shot down June 22 had violated its airspace. Turkey says the jet had unintentionally strayed into Syria’s airspace and was inside international airspace when it was shot down over the Mediterranean.

The search for two missing pilots continued in Syrian waters but hopes for their survival were dim, Turkish authorities said. The Turkish military said search teams had found some pieces of the plane as well as equipment belonging to the pilots.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the bombing occurred at 1 p.m. Damascus time in the parking lot of the Palace of Justice, a compound that houses several courts. The site is near the capital’s famous Hamidiyeh Market, an area crowded with families stocking up on food and other supplies for the weekend. Weekends begin on Fridays in Syria.

Witnesses reported hearing one blast, but SANA said there were two. The report also said a roadside bomb was found but did not explode.

The government blamed the attack on terrorists, the term it uses to describe rebels. Syria prevents journalists from working independently, making it difficult to verify accounts from either side in the conflict.

The country has been hit by a wave of explosions in recent months, killing dozens of people. Most targeted government security agencies.

Also Thursday, SANA said terrorists assassinated a professor at the Petrochemical Engineering College at al-Baath University in the central province of Homs, along with five of her relatives.

Gunmen broke into her home and shot her, her parents and three nephews, SANA said.

World powers will meet Saturday in Geneva for talks on Syria, but few observers expect a major breakthrough. Syria has the protection of Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow will not endorse a call for Assad to give up power.

“We are not supporting and will not support any external meddling,” he said. “External players must not dictate ... to Syrians, but, first of all, must commit to influencing all the sides in Syria to stop the violence.”

But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that it was “very clear” that all the participants at the Geneva meeting - including Russia - are on board with a transition plan created by international envoy Kofi Annan.

Lavrov said it was “obvious that a transitional period is needed to overcome the Syrian crisis,” but insisted any plans for the future rest on Syria and that the major powers in Geneva must focus on persuading the opposition groups to soften their demands.

Russia and China have pledged to veto any Security Council attempt to intervene.

In his remarks Thursday to Iranian TV, Assad praised Russia, China - and Iran - for supporting his country and “defending tranquility in the region.” Information for this article was contributed by Bassem Mroue, Albert Aji, Mansur Mirovalev, Nasser Karimi and Selcan Hacaoglu of The Associated Press.