In a statement, the Syrian government rejected Turkey’s plan to create a ‘safe zone’ in north Syria, and condemned Turkish attacks, which it said, constituted ‘war crimes’.

The Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said on Monday:

“The Syrian Arab Republic rejects those hostile acts, launched by Turkish occupation since many days on regions and towns in north-eastern side of Syria that claimed the lives of many civilians, inflected heavy losses to public and private properties, and displaced dozens of families.”

It continued:

“Turkey’s attempt to establish the ‘safe zone’ in Syrian territories is a malevolent act of aggression and part of the geographic and ethnic cleansing practiced by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the north Syria.”

Describing Turkey’s acts as ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’, it added:

“Syria’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity will not be a subject of blackmail or bargain by the extremist Turkish regime in cooperation with its ally in Washington and with some Western countries that seek to gain cheap political targets at the expense of the Syrian people and their territorial integrity.”