Syrian government slams Turkish offensive in Afrin as ‘occupation’

BEIRUT: The Syrian government described on Thursday a Turkish offensive in Syria’s Afrin region as an illegal "aggression" and said it would deal with it accordingly.

"The Turkish military operation in northern Syria is a blatant aggression," said a foreign ministry statement circulated on state media. The unauthorised presence of foreign forces represents "occupation and will be dealt with on this basis", it said.

Turkey launched an air and ground offensive last month against Kurdish fighters who control the northwest Syrian region of Afrin on the Turkish border, opening a new front in Syria’s multi-sided war.Ankara continues to "spread lies" about its military aggression against Syria and tries to justify the action as an act of self-defense, Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said in two letters addressed to the UN chief and the Security Council chairman.

“The Syrian Arab Republic stresses that the presence of any foreign military operations on its territories without its overt approval is an assault and occupation, which will be dealt with on that basis,” the ministry said.

The Turkish operation on Syria, it said, constitutes a violation of the UN Charter. The Syrian Foreign Ministry further urged the UN Security Council "not to allow any state to use force in a way that contradicts international law or to depend on the charter to justify its aggressive atrocities."

Turkey launched the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Syria's northwestern city of Afrin on January 20 in a bid to eliminate the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).

Turkey has warned that the Afrin offensive could expand to the nearby Syrian city of Manbij. Additionally on Thursday, Syrian government forces managed to wrest control over dozens of villages in the country's western provinces of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo. Syrian army units and allied fighters carried out a large-scale operation against al-Nusra Front terrorists on Idlib outskirts and retook six villages, Syria's official SANA news agency reported.

A number of terrorists were killed and injured during the clashes and their weapons and equipment were destroyed, the report added. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that Syrian troops had moved within 14 kilometers of the town of Saraqeb in Idlib Province.

The UK-based monitoring group said pro-government forces were inching closer to a key highway connecting the cities of Damascus and Aleppo. Saraqeb is an important military center for militants and al-Qaeda-linked elements operating in Idlib.

SANA also reported violent clashes between Syrian forces and Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the northeastern countryside of Hama on Thursday. The Syrian troops managed to liberate three villages in Hama from the grip of terrorists, according to the report. Elsewhere in Aleppo, Syrian army soldiers and allied fighters attacked al-Nusra Front terrorists, regained several villages and inflicted heavy losses on the militants' equipment.

Over the past few months, Syrian forces have made sweeping gains against Takfiri elements who have lately increased their acts of violence across the country following a series of defeats on the ground.