Moscow: Turkey’s shelling of Syrian territories is open support to terrorism

Moscow – Russian Foreign Ministry expressed Russia’s deep concern over the aggressive actions of the Turkish regime against Syria, SANA reported.

On Saturday, the Turkish army started launching artillery shelling targeting villages in northern Aleppo province and mounts in the northern Lattakia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Turkish regime’s shelling of Syrian territories is an open support to the international terrorism and a violation of the UN Security Council resolution and the obligations taken upon by Turkey as a member state of the International Support Syria Group in Vienna.

“Russia supports introducing this issue to the UN Security Council so that the Security Council gives a clear assessment to Ankara’s provocative line creating a threat to peace and security in the region of the Middle East and beyond,” it added.

“According to available information, the Turkish side is continuing to simultaneously to help groups of jihadists and armed militants illegally enter Syrian territory to fortify the units of the al-Nusra Front and ISIS, as well as other terrorist organizations in battles… Injured militants are brought across the border into Turkey,” the statement continued to say.

Later, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the international community and global mass media outlets that are expressing concerns about the humanitarian situation in Syria and leveling accusations at Russia are at the same time ignoring what Turkey is doing currently near the Turkish-Syrian borders, asserting that a humanitarian disaster is taking place in that area due to the Turkish actions, and attention must be called to this fact.

On a relevant note, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Russia started carrying out airstrikes in Syria because it could no longer tolerate the complacence shown by the US-led alliance that was allegedly established to fight ISIS.

Ryabkov said that ISIS poses a direct threat to Russian security, and that Russia’s partners in the BIRCS group were very understanding of its decision to launch its military operations in Syria.

On Sunday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and chief of the Security Councul slamming Ankara over the shelling and calling on the Security Council take measures to ensure security and “put an end to the crimes of the Turkish regime.