DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syria has vehemently condemned Turkey’s acts of aggression against the Arab country, saying Turkish forces’ incursions into its territory violate international law.
The announcement was made in a statement by an unnamed source in Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, the country’s official SANA news agency reported.
“The aggressive threats of the Turkish regime pose a blatant violation of the international law and the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria,” the ministry said.
The statement added that Turkey’s incursions into the Syrian territory contradict the agreements reached through the Astana process and pose a serious threat to peace and security in the region while undermining internationally-sponsored agreements on the lines of the de-escalation zones in Syria.
Turkey has been conducting several incursions against neighboring Syria’s northern parts since 2016 to target the Kurdish militants affiliated with the so-called People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Ankara associates the YPG with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting a separatist war against Turkey for decades.
On Saturday, six Syrian troops were injured near the Tal Tamer town in the northeastern Syrian province of al-Hasakah after the Turkish military bombarded the area with heavy artillery, according to local sources.
The sources said Turkey bombarded the village of Umm al-Kif in al-Hasakah and the electricity network of Tal Tamer, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network reported.
The sources added that the attack had caused significant damage to citizens’ property, harmed the electricity network, and cut off power in the district.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Wednesday that the country was to take yet “another step” to “clean up” the northern Syrian cities of Tal Rifat and Manbij. The Turkish forces would then fan out to other areas in the Arab country, the Turkish head of state added.
Furthermore, Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has censured the European Union’s lack of independence and its insistence on repeating lies about positive developments in the war-ravaged country, saying the bloc and the United States bear full responsibility for the suffering of the Syrians as a result of unilateral coercive measures.
“The European Union insists once again on repeating lies about the situation in Syria and that is completely detached from reality,” an official source at the ministry said in a statement, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.
The source said the EU despises the great achievements made by the country in the fight against terrorism, the promotion of stability and national reconciliation, and the settlement of the legal status of many citizens through amnesty decrees.