Egypt condemns Turkish military operation in Syria's Afrin

CAIRO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Sunday condemned the Turkish military operation in Syria's Kurdish-controlled Afrin region.

In a statement, Egypt's Foreign Ministry described the operation as a serious threat to Syria's sovereignty.

It added that the operation hampers the efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis and combat terrorism.

The foreign minister reiterated Egypt's rejection of all military solutions which only increase the sufferings of the Syrian people and called on all the Syrian people to engage in serious talks with maintaining the sovereignty and unity of their country, according to the statement.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced Sunday that Turkey has started a land operation against the Syrian Kurdish militants with land troops entering Syria's Afrin.

The military operation aims to establish a 30 km security zone into the Afrin province from Turkish border, he said at a briefing.

On Saturday, Turkey launched the Operation Olive Branch which aims to clear its borders from the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish group considered by Ankara as the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The United States, which heavily backs the Kurdish forces and sees them as reliable allies in Syria, has urged Turkey not to fight the Kurds in Afrin, while the Syrian government has warned it would shoot down any Turkish warplane fighting in Afrin. Enditem