Washington, Moscow: Turkish attacks on NE Syria could revive ISIS, escalate situation in Mid East

"Turkish air attacks in NE Syria threaten the safety of United States military personnel and the escalating situation is jeopardising years of progress against ISIS mercenaries, the Pentagon has said.

“Recent air strikes in NE Syria directly threatened the safety of U.S. personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than ten thousand ISIS detainees,” the Pentagon’s spokesman, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said in a statement.

Ryder added the escalating situation threatened the progress made in the fight against ISIS mercenaries in the region.

For its part, the US State Department confirmed, in a statement on Thursday, that "Turkish military strikes in NE Syria threaten the two countries' common goal in fighting ISIS."

In turn, the Russian President's Special Envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, confirmed that the Turkish attacks on Syrian territory will escalate the situation throughout the Middle East, noting that these attacks coincided with the Astana meetings and affected the progress of the talks.

Lavrentiev added, "The meeting in Astana coincided with the Turkish air raids on the Syrian and Iraqi lands, and it greatly affected the course of our talks.

 "During the review of the situation in Syria, we focused on this issue and counted on holding separate talks with the Turkish side, to refrain from carrying out large-scale operations on the territory."

He added we will witness a major escalation not only in Syria but in the Middle East region as a whole, and this cannot be allowed, and we count on that Turkey will hear our position and find other options, we will continue to provide assistance in this regard.

The head of the Damascus government's delegation to the 19th international meeting of the "Astana" format, Ayman Sousan, affirmed that "the Turkish occupation's excuses to justify its policies in Syria no longer deceive anyone.

In a press conference following the end of the 19th international meeting of the Astana format in the Kazakh capital, Sousan stressed that the actions committed by Turkey, foremost of which is the provision of support for the remnants of "terrorist groups" and the frequent water cuts to citizens in Hasaka, amount to war crimes against humanity, it constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, calling on the international community to condemn these acts.

Sousan added that ensuring security is not through aggression, attacks, and invasion, but rather through cooperation, and the responsibility for security in neighbouring countries is a joint responsibility".

" Whoever wants to ensure security, there are sound ways to do so.. As for those who want to fabricate pretexts to achieve some agendas and plans, we say to them: This will only lead to failure and further escalation of the situation".

A.K

ANHA