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1st LD: Syria slams Turkey for shelling Syrian territory

Xinhua, February 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Syrian Foreign Ministry slammed on Sunday the Turkish artillery shelling against areas in northern Syria, branding it as giving a "direct support" the "defeated rebels," according to the state news agency SANA.

"The Turkish heavy artillery shelling against Syrian territories is a direct Turkish support to the armed terrorist groups and an attempt to lift the morale of those defeated groups," the ministry said, in condemnation letters sent to the United Nations.

In a jab at the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the ministry said his remarks about the military intervention in Syria constitutes an outright violation to the resolutions of the UN Security Council regarding fighting terrorism.

"The Syrian government vehemently condemns the repetitive Turkish crime and aggression against the Syrian people and the Syrian territories," said the statement, urging the international community to shoulder its responsibility in "putting an end to the crimes of the Turkish regime."

The government's condemnation came as the Turkish artillery continued to shell Kurdish areas in northern Syria for the second straight day on Sunday, killing and wounding nine fighters of a Kurdish group, a monitor group reported.

Turkish officials said their shelling comes in retaliation to fire from the Kurdish fighters' positions against Turkey, a claim totally denied by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which pledged to confront Turkish military intervention in Syria.

A day earlier, the Turkish artillery started pounding the Kurdish position in northern Syria, just hours after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on that Turkey, "if necessary," will take military actions against the Kurds in Syria.

Turkish officials have repeatedly said that they will not allow the Kurds in Syria to expand more near the Turkish border.

The recent escalation also came as the talks about a ground intervention by Saudi and Turkey troops in Syria have made headlines in recent days.

Such an intervention will spark extra chaos in the already war-torn country, particularly after Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said any foreign troops entering Syria without the consent of the Syrian government "will be sent home in wooden coffins." Endit