Iran Concerned about Turkey’s Operation in Syria’s Afrin

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman says the country is concerned about and closely watching Turkey’s ongoing operation in Syria’s Afrin, and hopes that the operation would be immediately terminated so as to prevent the deepening of crisis in northern Syria.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry’s Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the continuation of the crisis in Afrin may reorganize Takfiri terrorist groups in the northern Syrian regions and fan the flames of war in this country again.

Qassemi went on to say that Tehran strongly stresses the necessity of preserving the territorial integrity of Syria and respecting the country’s sovereignty to prevent intensification of the humanitarian crisis and to save the lives of the innocent people of Syria.

The Iranian spokesman further noted that Iran expects all countries, especially the Turkish government as one of the guarantor states [of the Astana Process], to remain committed to the diplomatic settlement of the Syrian crisis, especially within the framework of Astana Talks, and to continue to play a constructive role and carry out its responsibility to resolve the crisis in Syria diplomatically.

“We have always believed that the root cause of the devastating crisis in Syria is the irresponsible behaviours, provocative actions, and illegal interventions of trans-regional powers, including the US and certain autocratic and belligerent sides like the Zionist regime,” underlined Qassemi.

“As long as the US forces and their allies, including the Takfiri terrorist groups, continue to engage in illegitimate and unlawful practices that are against the international rules and the interests of the Syrian people and are opposed to the will of the legitimate Syrian government, the humanitarian crisis in the Arab country will continue.”

“Therefore, all the responsible countries of the international community, especially the neighbours of Syria, are expected to avoid taking any measure that would boost the illegitimate presence of transregional interventionist forces and encourage the terrorist groups,” he added.

Moreover, the Iranian spokesman called on the involved countries to remain committed to peaceful and diplomatic ways to resolve the Syrian crisis through processes like Astana Talks.

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