US Actions In Syria Amount To Violation Of Syrian Territorial Integrity - Tehran

TEHRAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2019) US actions in northeastern Syria amount to a violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Sunday.

Last week, Ankara and Washington reached a long-promised agreement on a safe zone along Syria's border with Turkey, which views the Kurdish militias operating in Syria's northern areas as a threat to its national security. US servicemen have already started arriving in Turkey to join the operations. Damascus opposes the plan, labeling it as a violation of both Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity and international law.

"US actions in northeastern Syria are an open attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and are contrary to the principles of international law and the UN Charter," Mousavi said in a statement released on the ministry's Telegram channel.

He added that the latest statements of the US officials on the establishment of a security zone in northeastern Syria were "provocative and caused concern."

On Friday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that the US-Turkish coordination center for joint operations to control a prospective safe zone in northern Syria would become operational the next week.