Iran condemns airstrike, opposes Turkish move into Syria
The Hindu
Hossein Amirabdollahian made his comments at the start of his visit to the Syrian capital Damascus.
Iran’s Foreign Minister on July 2 condemned an Israeli airstrike on Syria earlier in the day and said Tehran opposes any military operation by Turkey in Syria’s north.
Hossein Amirabdollahian made his comments at the start of his visit to the Syrian capital Damascus, where he was expected to discuss mutual relations and regional affairs with top Syrian officials.
Iran has been one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest backers, sending thousands of fighters from around the region to help his troops in Syria’s 11-year conflict. The war has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.
Mr. Amirabdollahian’s visit came hours after Israel carried out an airstrike on a coastal Syrian village near the border with Lebanon wounding two people, Syrian state media reported.
It also comes after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said he’s planning a major military operation to create a 30KM (19 mile) deep buffer zone inside Syria along Turkey’s border. He said he would do that by way of a cross-border incursion against U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters — an attempt that failed in 2019.
“We understand the concerns of our neighbour Turkey but we oppose any military measure in Syria,” Mr. Amirabdollahian said, adding that Iran is trying to solve the “misunderstanding between Turkey and Syria through dialogue.”
Analysts have said Mr. Erdogan is taking advantage of the war in Ukraine to push his own goals in Syria. Turkey agreed this week to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, saying the Nordic nations had agreed to crack down on groups that Ankara deems national security threats, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian extension.
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