Russia-led security body says regional states may be dragged into Syria war

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Heavy artillery bombardment of Syrian targets by Turkey and talks of a ground operation by Ankara and Saudi Arabia risk leading to direct military clashes between regional states, a Russia-led security body, the CSTO, said on Tuesday. "Further fanning of the conflagration in Syria in close proximity to the zone of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation is a threat to the security of its member states," CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said in a statement. The CSTO's members are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Reporting by Christian Lowe; Writing by Alexander Winning and Dmitry Solovyov)