Syria: Turkish offensive anchored in Erdogan’s expansionist illusions

The Syrian government has strongly condemned the ongoing ground offensive by Turkish soldiers and allied Takfiri terrorists against Kurdish forces in the northern part of the war-battered Arab country, saying the military operation has its roots in the "expansionist ambitions and illusions" of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration.

“Despite widespread international condemnation, Erdogan’s regime still insists on its naked aggression towards Syria, and wreaks death and destruction through gross violation of all international regulations and principles in a way that clearly exposes the real face of Erdogan’s fascist regime,” an unnamed official source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates told Syria’s official news agency SANA in a statement on Thursday.

The source added, “This treacherous Turkish aggression is the outcome of the expansionist ambitions and illusions of Erdogan’s regime, and it affirms that the regime is classified among terrorist groups to which it has provided all forms of support. The offensive deals a heavy blow to the efforts aimed at finding a solution to the crisis in Syria. It makes, therefore, the Turkish regime lose its position as a guarantor of the Astana peace process as its aggression completely contradicts the principles and decisions of the process.”

The Syrian Foreign Ministry source reaffirmed his country’s “complete rejection and strong condemnation of the blatant Turkish aggression and interference in Syria’s domestic affairs,” saying that Damascus also “asserts the solidarity and unity of the Syrian nation under the aegis of the national flag to confront the Turkish aggression, preserve Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and prevent others from interfering in Syria’s internal affairs.”

“The entire international community should assume the responsibility to pressure Erdogan’s regime to put an end to its aggression on Syria, hold it fully to account for potential repercussions, and to force the Turkish regime to abandon its destructive policies, which pose a threat to regional and global security, peace and stability,” the source concluded.

In a relevant development, Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria called for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Ra's al-Ayn border town, which is currently encircled by Ankara's forces.

"It is the first real advance of the Turkish forces inside the city, following fierce resistance by the [so-called] Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)," a Britain-based monitoring group said.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the regional Kurdish administration called for "urgent intervention to open a safe humanitarian corridor to evacuate dead and wounded civilians trapped in Ra’s al-Ayn."

SS