BEIRUT – Syria’s cross-border attacks on Turkey in the past week look increasingly like they could be an intentional escalation meant to send a clear message to Ankara and beyond, that the crisis is simply too explosive to risk foreign military intervention.

With Turkey eager to defuse the crisis, the spillover of fighting is giving new life to a longshot political solution, with the Turks floating the idea of making President Bashar Assad’s longtime vice president, Farouk al-Sharaa, interim leader if the president steps aside.

A military option – which would involve foreign powers that already have expressed a deep reluctance to getting involved in the crisis – still is not on the table, analysts say, despite six consecutive days of Turkish retaliation against bombardment from inside Syria.