As Moscow blasts Ankara’s “provocative” shelling of Kurds in Syria, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday that Turkey will not allow the Syrian town of Azaz just across from the Turkish border fall under the control of Syrian Kurdish fighters.
“We will not let Azaz fall. The YPG (the People’s Protection Units, a Syrian Kurdish militia) will not be able to cross to the west of the Euphrates (River) and east of Afrin,” Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the private NTV television on his plane en route to an official visit to Ukraine.
In the same day, Russia described Turkey’s shelling of Kurdish and Syrian regime positions in the north of the country was a “provocative” action.
“Moscow expresses its most serious concern about aggressive actions by Turkish authorities,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. It said Ankara was pursuing a “provocative line” that “is creating a threat to peace and security in the Middle East and beyond.”
On Monday, seven Russian missiles struck a hospital in the northern Syrian town of Azaz, a Turkish security official said, adding the civilian death toll to rise above 14.
Independent Doctors Association, a Syrian non-government organization that runs a hospital in Bab al Salama near the Turkish border, said at least 30 people were wounded in the attacks.
- Russia accuses Turkey
“Moscow expresses its most serious concern about the aggressive actions by the Turkish authorities regarding the neighboring state,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
- Turkey denies sending troops
“It is not true,” Ismet Yilmaz told parliament on Sunday night when asked whether Turkish soldiers had intervened in the fighting in the Syrian province of Aleppo.
“The Turkish military has no intention of intervening in Syria.”
The Syrian government claimed that on Saturday 12 pick-up trucks equipped with heavy machine guns and ammunition had crossed into Syria from Turkey via the Bab al-Salama border crossing.
They “were accompanied by around 100 gunmen, some of them Turkish forces and Turkish mercenaries,” Syrian state news agency SANA quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
Turkish artillery struck at targets of Kurdish militia at the weekend, with Ankara insisting that it was returning fire under the rules of engagement.
The regime in Damascus has condemned Ankara over the shelling while urging the United Nations to act...
alarabiya.net
15/2/16
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The Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces have taken control of around 70 percent of Tal Rifaat, a town between Aleppo city and Azaz near the Turkish border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights conflict monitor said on Feb. 15. ...
ReplyDeleteA major offensive against Syrian militants, supported by Russian bombing and Iranian-backed forces, has brought the Syrian army to within 25 km (15 miles) of Turkey’s border and Kurdish-backed forces have exploited the situation, seizing ground from Syrian militants to extend its presence along the frontier.
REUTERS