Turkey agitating for NATO war: Running out of patience with Syria’s embattled leader.

Posted on March 27, 2012 at 12:22 AM EST

By Aaron Klein
TEL AVIV — The U.S., Turkey and NATO have held high level military meetings the past few days to discuss options regarding Syria, including the possibility of a military campaign targeting the regime of President Bashar Assad, informed Middle Eastern security officials told KleinOnline.
The security officials said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sent a message to Assad via Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby reminding the Syrian ruler of an ultimatum reportedly delivered in September calling for an end to violence and major constitutional reforms by this month.
Davutoglu further told European Union leaders the time has come to use collective force to end Assad’s rule, the officials said.
Separately, a source from Assad’s regime claimed to KleinOnline that thousands of Turkish troops have amassed near Syria’s border with Turkey. The source said that Turkey told Russia the troops were to stem the flow of PKK fighters of Kurdish gunmen moving in and out of the border with Syria.
“We think these soldiers are to reinforce against a future operation against Assad in the coming days or weeks,” the source said.
Just yesterday, Turkey upped the ante by announcing it is suspending all activities at its embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus.
In February, KleinOnline reported NATO countries are strongly considering the possibility of an international deployment to Syria if the Syrian opposition does not make major advances by the end of March.
Egyptian security officials at the time separately outlined what they said was large scale international backing for the rebels attacking Assad’s embattled regime– including arms and training from the U.S., Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Several knowledgeable Egyptian and Arab security officials claimed the U.S., Turkey and Jordan were running a training base for the Syrian rebels in the Jordanian town of Safawi in the country’s northern desert region.
The security officials also claimed Saudi Arabia was sending weapons to the rebels via surrogates, including through Druze and Christian leaders in Lebanon such as Druze leader Walid Jumblatt; Saudi-Lebanese billionaire Saad Hariri, who recently served as Lebanon’s prime minister; and senior Lebanese opposition leader Samir Farid Geagea.