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 say more than 14,000 people have been killed.
But rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaeda or other extremists are joining the fray.
Assad told Iranian state TV Thursday that his country supports him. 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. Tensions between the two countries spiked after the downing of 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.
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 brought down over the Mediterranean by Syria.
The search for two missing pilots continued in Syrian waters, but hopes for their survival are dim, Turkish authorities said. The Turkish military said search teams have found some pieces of the plane as well as equipment belonging to the pilots.
