DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syrians have staged a demonstration in the northwestern province of Aleppo to condemn the presence of Turkish occupation forces in the Arab country, and call for a complete withdrawal from the Syrian soil.
Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Sunday that residents of the town of Deir Jamal, located north of Aleppo, rejected the deployment of Turkish troops and their allied militants.
The participants waved national Syrian flags and condemned the crimes committed by Turkish soldiers and their allies against civilians in the areas under their control, demanding the end of their illegitimate presence.
The demonstrators also underscored respect for Syria’s territorial integrity, stressing the need to confront attempts aimed at occupation and disintegration of Syrian territories.
Over the past two weeks, residents of the town of Kafr Naya and the city of Tel Rifaat have also demonstrated to denounce the presence of the Turkish forces.
Turkey has deployed forces in Syria in violation of the Arab country’s territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the U.S.-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
Turkey has played a major role in supporting terrorists in Syria since 2011.
President Bashar al-Assad and other senior Syrian officials have said Damascus will respond through all legitimate means available to the ongoing ground offensive by Turkish forces and allied militants in the north.