Damascus rejects Turkish aggressions and safe zone in northeast Syria
DAMASSUS, Syria (North Press) – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian government rejected on Monday, in a statement, the Turkish aggressions against northeast Syria over the past few days.
“The Syrian Arab Republic rejects the military hostilities launched by the occupying Turkish forces for several days on areas and villages in the northeast of Syria,” it said on its official Facebook page.
“The shelling of northeast Syria, especially Tel Tamr, Abu Rasin, Zarkan, al-Aghebish and others in the northwestern countryside of Hasakah, has led to many casualties among civilians, including dead and wounded. It has also caused massive damage to public and private property and infrastructure in those areas, and to the displacement of dozens of Syrian families,” the statement added.
“What the Turkish regime is doing to establish the so-called safe zone on Syrian territory is a shameful act of aggression. It is part of the policy of ethnic and geographical cleansing practiced by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the occupied Syrian territories. These aggressions are war crimes and crimes against humanity that are rejected by the Charter of the United Nations, international law and international humanitarian law,” it said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on May 23 that Turkey would launch a new military operation across its southern borders with Syria to create a safe zone.
On Thursday, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu revealed his country’s intention to build about 250,000 homes in northern Syria, as part of a plan to return Syrian refugees.
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted on Tuesday as saying, “we are preparing a new project for the voluntary return of one million Syrian bro brothers who are in our country as guests.”
The ministry held “every party illegally active outside the Syrian State and its institutions responsible for “giving cover to the opportunistic and evasive Recep Tayyip Erdogan regime to justify its aggressions, policies and colonial schemes in Syria.”
The Syrian Foreign Ministry reiterated that “the sovereignty, independence, integrity and territorial integrity of Syria will not be the subject of blackmail or bargaining exercised by the extremist Turkish regime, in collusion with its ally in Washington and with some Western countries. These countries seek cheap political gain at the expense of the people of Syria and the unity of its territory.”