BRUSSELS (EJP) --- The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Anders Fogh Rasmussen committed his organisation’s “solidarity” with Turkey in its ongoing border fracas with Syria, ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels Tuesday, as he revealed “we have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary”.

“We hope that all parties involved (in the Syrian crisis) will show restraint, and avoid an escalation of the crisis,” Fogh Rasmussen said. “I do believe that the right way forward in Syria is political solution.”

His comments came despite analysts claiming the alliance would be unwilling to enter into another war, following the unresolved military situation in Afghanistan, and Turkey has so far not sought direct military intervention from its allies. Turkey’s military chief of staff inspected troops along its border Tuesday, after a week of cross-border artillery and mortar exchanges escalated tensions between the neighbours, sparking fears of a wider regional conflict.

General Necdet Ozel insisted Turkey would “respond with more force” should Syria continue to launch attacks on Turkish territory, as the country continued to reinforce the border with artillery guns and increased numbers of fighter jets.

Last week, NATO reiterated its previous statement that it “continues to closely follow the situation in Syria”, condemning last Wednesday’s Syrian stray shelling attack which killed five Turkish citizens as “a cause of greatest concern”.

“In the spirit of indivisibility of security and solidarity deriving from the Washington Treaty, the Alliance continues to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts against an Ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law,” concluded its statement.

In June, following a special emergency meeting of NATO’s North Atlantic Council at Turkey’s request, Fogh Rasmussen delivered a statement slamming the “unacceptable” targeting of a Turkish military plane by Syria, which resulted in the deaths of both pilots.

Continuing to describe it as “another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life”, the statement stopped short of any clear commitment to action on the issue, instead emphasising “we continue to follow the situation closely and with great concern”.

In what was then perceived as an attempt to de-escalate the situation, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted his country’s “rational” response should not be misconstrued as a sign of weakness.

Former close Syrian-ally Turkey has since accused its neighbour of “state terrorism” in a sharp downturn of the two countries’ relations following the plane incident. Erdogan, who has become an increasingly tough critic of authoritarian Syrian leader Bashar Assad condemned the country Wednesday as “the bleeding heart of humanity and the whole Islamic world”. At a meeting of the Islamic Conference in Istanbul, he told fellow delegates that his strong-armed response to Syrian military violations had been unavoidable, adding “we had to retaliate in the strongest way that we could”.