Turkey’s Parliament approved military action against Syria yesterday, though they downplayed it as not a prelude to an invasion or a “war mandate.” But while Syria apologized for cross-border shelling that killed five in Turkey and drew this response, the Turkish military fired over the border for a second day, as the Turkish Prime Minister announced more provocations from their neighbor.

Observers are bracing for what many believe could be a massacre in the Syrian city of Aleppo, the biggest by population in the country. Regime war planes have already bombed the city where rebels have assembled in an attempt to take and hold ground. Now artillery shelling is taking place, according to the rebels, and tank columns may be rolling in.

Iraqis are planning to take to the streets this Friday in a mass Day of Wrath. Demonstrations from Sulimaniyah and Mosel in the North to Fallujah, Baghdad, Kut and Basra have called for an end to corruption and the provision of essential services as well as protection for the rights of journalists.