Ten More Turkish Tanks Head across Border into Syria: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least 10 more Turkish tanks Thursday crossed the border into Syria a day after Ankara's special forces, tanks and jets backed by planes from the US-led coalition launched their first coordinated offensive in the town of Jarabulus close to the frontier, an AFP photographer said.
The tanks were set to join a contingent of around a dozen Turkish tanks who had crossed the day earlier for Turkey's operation "Euphrates Shield" aimed at reportedly ridding the area of Daesh (also known as ISIL and ISIS) and also Kurdish militia.
Soon after the incursion, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned Turkey’s military operation in a statement released on Wednesday.
The ministry called for an immediate end to the Turkish aggression, adding that the operation is being carried out under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
"Any party conducting a battle against terrorism on Syrian soil must do so in coordination with the Syrian government and the Syrian army,” the statement read, adding, "Chasing out Daesh and replacing them with terrorist groups backed by Turkey is not fighting terrorism."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation in northern Syria was launched in the early hours of Wednesday morning "against terror groups" such as Daesh and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - a US-backed Kurdish group based in Syria - that "constantly threaten" Turkey.
The epicenter of the military action is the Syrian border town of Jarablus, from where Ankara says militants have fired rockets into Turkey.
Also on Wednesday, Russia expressed concern about the Turkish military operation in Syria, warning that the move will increase tensions there.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Moscow is “deeply concerned” about the developments on the Syrian-Turkish border area, noting that Turkey's offensive risks "further degeneration of the situation in the conflict zone.”
Meanwhile, PYD head, Saleh Muslim, wrote in a tweet on Wednesday that Turkey was entering a "quagmire" in Syria and faced defeat there like Daesh.
Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a militia affiliated to the PYD, also said that the intervention was a "blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs.”
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.