The Syrian military said on Thursday that it
would bring down any Turkish war planes entering Syrian air space, a response
to air strikes carried out by Turkey overnight in northern Syria.
"Any attempt to once again breach Syrian
airspace by Turkish war planes will be dealt with and they will be brought down
by all means available," the Syrian army general command said in a
statement.
Turkish air strikes hit a group of Kurdish
fighters allied to U.S.-backed militia late on Wednesday, which the Syrian
statement called an act of "blatant aggression".
Northern Syria is an increasingly complex
battlefield and Wednesday's air strikes highlighted the conflicting agendas of
NATO members Turkey and the United States.
Turkey supports rebels opposed to Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad and is also trying to push Islamic State away from
Syria's Turkish border.
At the same time, the United States has backed
Kurdish-led forces in their own fight against Islamic State, infuriating
Ankara, which sees the YPG as an extension of Kurdish PKK militants who have
waged a three-decade insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by
Louise Ireland)
Original post: reuters
Related post:
No comments:
Post a Comment