The speaker of the Syrian parliament has strongly condemned the Turkish military campaign in Idlib, calling it an "invasion" and an "aggression" violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.
"The Syrian parliament demands withdrawal of Turkish forces without any preconditions," Hammoudeh Sabbagh, the speaker of the Syrian parliament, said, delivering a speech at the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.
The official said that the Turkish operation wasn't discussed during the Astana talks and violates international law.
"We consider this attack an invasion of our territory, a threat to the security of our citizens. We consider this to be a violation of the norms of international law. This shows the close relationship between the Turkish regime and the terrorist groups that are destroying Syria, sheds the blood of the Syrian people and contributes to the destabilization of the situation in Syria," Sabbagh said.
The statement comes a day after a source in the Syrian Foreign Ministry told SANA news agency that Damascus demands "immediate" pullout of the Turkish army from the Syrian territory. The source called Turkey's Idlib operation a "blatant aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and a flagrant violation of international law and norms" and said it "has nothing to do" with the agreements reached during the latest round of the Syrian peace talks in Astana brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey.
The Syrian parliament speaker's statement was the first official Damascus' comment on the newly-launched Turkish operation in the country as Turkish soldiers, including special forces, and 30 armored vehicles entered the Idlib de-escalation zone on Thursday night.
The Turkish military operation to support the Free Syrian Army rebels' fight against al-Nusra Front terrorists in Idlib was announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on October 7.
Currently, Idlib is mostly controlled by Tahrir al-Sham, a militant group led by al-Nusra Front terrorist group (banned in Russia), al-Qaeda's former Syrian affiliate. The group is not party to the agreement on setting up a de-escalation zone in Idlib agreed upon during the Syrian peace talks in Astana brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey.
