The Turkish president adds that “there is no resentment or bitterness in politics.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has aired fresh interest in a possible meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as Ankara is doubling down on its threat for a ground operation against Syrian Kurdish groups.
The police of the Syrian National Army assaulted protesters near the city of al-Bab following civil protests calling for controlling the security situation in the city and holding the killers of a prominent activist accountable.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said on its official Twitter page, “It’s payback time,” in reference to last week’s attack in Istanbul that Turkey blamed on Syrian Kurdish forces, threatening more escalation.
The US military says it opposes Ankara’s plans to send ground troops against Syria’s Kurds, but it has stood down in the face of similar attacks in the past.
A suspected Turkish drone strike hit a Kurdish-led militia base in northeast Syria on Tuesday, killing two members of a local US-backed Syrian counterterrorism unit and wounding three others, spokespeople for the group told Al-Monitor.
The Iranian government’s escalating violence against protesters in Kurdish cities has led to chains of funerals.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deployed helicopters and rows of military vehicles and machine guns to the Kurdish city of Javanroud as part of its clampdown on anti-government protests that have gripped the country since mid-September.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Iraq is “committed to keeping terrorists away from Iran’s borders.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke to reporters today at the Foreign Ministry, addressing a wide range of issues.
Following Turkish airstrikes on his headquarters in northeast Syria, SDF commander Mazlum Kobane spoke with Al-Monitor about Erdogan’s threats of a new ground offensive.
In his first interview with international media following Tuesday’s drone strike on his main headquarters in northeast Syria, Mazlum Kobane (also known as Mazloum Abdi), the commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that the most likely target of a potential Turkish ground offensive against the Kurdish-controlled areas would be his native city of Kobani.
Turkey’s airstrikes in northeastern Syria “directly threatened the safety of United States personnel” who are working in Syria to fight against the Islamic State, the Pentagon said. Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Patrick Ryder also told reporters that “immediate de-escalation is necessary in order to maintain focus on the defeat-ISIS mission and ensure the safety and security of personnel on the ground committed to the defeat-ISIS mission.
We condemn the loss of civilian life that has occurred in both Turkey and Syria as a result of these actions and offer our condolences.” It is the strongest condemnation yet by the US against Turkey’s Operation Claw-Sword, launched in response to a November 13 attack on a pedestrian mall in Istanbul that left 6 people dead and wounded dozens more, that Turkey blames on Kurdish groups – the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq as well as the Kurdish People’s Protection group (YPG) along the Syrian border. Both groups have denied involvement in the attack.
The US is “also concerned by reports of the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure,” the Pentagon spokesman also said. He added that the US, while calling for de-escalation, also recognizes Turkey’s “legitimate security concerns” and would continue to discuss “cease-fire arrangements.” There are about 900 US soldiers and personnel in Syria.
The US statement comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country would launch a land operation into Syria “at the most convenient time.” On Wednesday, Turkey struck the Al-Hol refugee camp in northeastern Syria administered by semi-autonomous Kurdish forces that is home to 50,000 people, including relatives of suspected ISIS fighters, Syrians displaced by the civil war, and Iraqi refugees.
Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s ambassador on Monday to request an investigation into an incident in Stockholm that it regards as insulting to President Tayyip Erdogan, two diplomatic sources said.
Moscow hopes Turkey will refrain from using of “excessive force” following Turkish strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq. Ankara is threatening to launch a ground offensive.
Turkey will attack militants with tanks and soldiers soon, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, signalling a possible ground offensive against a Kurdish militia in Syria after retaliatory strikes escalated along the Syrian border.