Iran warned Turkey on Tuesday towards launching a brand new navy operation in Syria simply earlier than the leaders of each international locations attended a three-way summit assembly with Russia’s president.
Iran’s supreme chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered the warning to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey quickly after he arrived in Iran for the trilateral talks, the supreme chief’s web site mentioned. The Iranian chief informed Mr. Erdogan {that a} navy assault in northern Syria could be dangerous for Turkey, Syria and all the area, the location mentioned.
Iran and Russia have been staunch worldwide allies of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria throughout greater than a decade of civil conflict, whereas Turkey has backed armed teams preventing to topple Mr. Assad and has mounted incursions into northern Syria. Turkey already controls a number of swathes of territory inside Syria alongside the border between the 2 international locations.
In late Could, Mr. Erdogan threatened to launch a recent navy offensive towards Kurdish fighters in two cities in northern Syria. He mentioned the offensive could be a part of an effort to maintain the Turkish border safe from Kurdish militants and to create a so-called secure zone to repatriate a number of the tens of millions of refugees who poured throughout the border into Turkey in the course of the conflict.
“Terrorism should positively be confronted, however a navy assault on Syria will solely profit the terrorists,” learn a message posted on Mr. Khamenei’s Twitter account on Tuesday alongside {a photograph} of him assembly with the Turkish chief.
In his opening remarks on the three-way assembly, a defiant Mr. Erdogan explicitly requested for help from Russia and Iran for the navy incursion in northern Syria. After the assembly, Mr. Erdogan caught to identical place.
“Our struggle towards terrorist organizations will proceed in every single place,” he mentioned after the assembly. “We count on Russia and Iran to help Turkey on this battle.”
The summit in Iran has been considered as an try by Mr. Putin to shore up relations with close by international locations after his resolution to invade Ukraine, which has left Russia nearly utterly remoted. However the trade highlighted tensions between Turkey, Iran and Russia, particularly over Syria.
Iran, which equally faces worldwide isolation imposed by the West over its nuclear program, has began offering drones to the Russian navy, whereas Turkey, a member of NATO, has began supplying drones to Ukraine.
Nevertheless it was the topic of Syria that got here up first.
The US has cautioned towards Mr. Erdogan’s deliberate operation, saying it could threat additional destabilizing the area and will additionally create a recent stream of Syrian refugees.
Dana Stroul, a senior Center East official for the U.S. Protection Division, mentioned final week that the Biden administration strongly opposed any Turkish operation in northern Syria.
Since he got here to energy in 2002, Mr. Erdogan has mounted a number of navy offensives towards Kurdish militants in Turkey and Syria.
Ethnic Kurds make up a few fifth of Turkey’s inhabitants and have been preventing for autonomy for many years. In Syria, Kurdish teams have seized on the chance introduced by the near-collapse of the federal government in Damascus to realize better self-rule, which Mr. Erdogan vehemently opposed.
