Damascus demands the evacuation of the Turkish "occupation" from Syria
North Syria – North-Press Agency
The Syrian government has demanded the withdraw of the Turkish forces from Syrian territories, describing its presence as “occupation”.
Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said during a meeting of the Security Council in New York city that “the Turkish occupation let varieties of terrorist groups into Syria, and mobilized its military vehicles inside Syria in support of terrorist organizations.”
Tensions have recently increased between Syrian government and Ankara as the latter support Syrian opposition groups in Idlib, northwest of the country.
This tension coincided with the escalation of Syrian government’s military operations in the region four months ago.
According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, the Syrian government forces launched an air strike on the Turkish military convoy on Monday, as its vehicles moved to the south towards the Turkish observation point in northern Hama governorate.
Moreover, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has threatened the neighboring Syria by saying: “The Syrian regime should not play with fire”, in response to the attack which targeted the Turkish military convoy while trying to reach the military observation point.
During a session of the UN Security Council on Tuesday regarding “the maintenance of international peace and security: Challenges to peace and security in the Middle East,” Jaafari called on the Turkish forces to leave Syrian territories.
The Syrian diplomat pointed out that “Erdogan regime in the past two days had brought mercenaries and terrorists from Uzbeks, Tajiks, Caucasians, Uighurs, Turks and other Europeans and Arabs across the Turkish borders with Syria into Idlib.”
Turkey aims to “support al-Nusra Front and other related terrorist entities which are registered on the international terrorism list, as well as providing armed vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition to support these terrorist groups,” Jaafari added.
“The Syrian regime should not play with fire. We will do whatever is necessary for the sake of our soldiers’ safety.” Reuters quoted the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying on Tuesday.
The Turkish minister stressed in a challenging acrimonious tone that his country “will not move its military observation point in northwestern Syria,” stressing that the point “will continue its mission”, and that necessary security and military measures have been already taken.
Bashar Jaafari said that “the state of collusion has made some to call these foreign terrorists as the moderate Syrian armed opposition.”