Syria Turmoil Pits EU Against Neighbors as Russia Bombs Fall

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Syria‘s crisis continued to spread beyond its borders as the European Union‘s president savaged his neighbors for using refugees as a political weapon, Russia rained missiles on the country and the stream of migrants kept coming.

A day after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose nation has an open-door policy for its more than 2 million Syrian refugees, European Union President Donald Tusk said that some countries are turning the flows into a „dirty business or a political bargaining chip.“ Turkey had previously accused Russia of contravening its airspace as part of its unilateral bombing raids in Syria.

The Syrian collapse is turning the country into an arena for Russia, Turkey, Iran and the U.S. to jockey for regional power, while unleashing the biggest refugee crisis upon Western Europe since World War II. The crisis is stirring up political tensions well beyond the Middle East‘s borders. Turkey Monday called in the Russian ambassador after Russian warplanes violated its air space, while the U.S. says President Vladimir Putin is entering a quagmire that he‘ll only make worse.