Turkey condemns UN inertia as Syrian conflict deepens

ISTANBUL (REUTERS) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rebuked the UN Security Council for inaction over Syria on Saturday as war intensified across the country, saying the world body of superpowers was repeating mistakes that led to massacres in Bosnia in the 1990s.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces used air strikes and artillery to bombard insurgents on several fronts in the 19-month-old conflict, which risks dragging in regional powers with no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough.

Turkey - increasingly entangled after having intercepted a Russian airliner carrying what it said were Russian-made munitions for the Syrian army, infuriating Moscow and Damascus - has led calls for intervention, including no-fly zones enforced by foreign aircraft to stop deadly air raids by Mr Assad's forces.

But there is little chance of United Nations support for robust action given the opposition of veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China.