Assad adviser says Syria will treat Turkey, U.S. as invaders

The United States and Turkey were on Syrian land illegally, and that the Syrian government would deal with them as invader countries
Wednesday, 08 November 2017 06:41

A political adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a TV interview on Tuesday that the United States and Turkey were on Syrian land illegally, and that the Syrian government would deal with them as invader countries.

"Turkey today is a coloniser country, its forces on our soil are illegal, just as the American forces are on our soil illegally. We will deal with this issue as we deal with any illegal invader force on our lands," Bouthaina Shaaban told Lebanese channel al-Mayadeen.

In October, the Turkish Armed Forces said that Turkish military units had crossed the border into Syria's Idlib province to "conduct expeditionary activities and observe the implementation of the de-escalation zones agreement". The deployment of the Turkish troops has been criticised by the Syrian side, demanding Turkey's withdrawal from Idlib.

Shaaban noted that Turkey's actions go beyond the agreements reached during the Astana talks on Syrian reconciliation.

She also pointed out that the US-led international coalition violated the U.N. resolutions and completely destroyed the Syrian city of Raqqa "in the absolute silence of the international media."

Bouthaina Shaaban also said that Syrian government would not give up on the northern city of Raqqa, which was liberated from Islamic State last month. U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said Raqqa will be part of a decentralised "federal Syria" and hopes for a new phase of negotiations that will shore up Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria. 

"Everything is up to the Syrians and to discussions between Syrians, and there cannot be a discussion on the division or cutting up of a part of the country or on so-called federalism," Shaaban said.

"I don't think any government can discuss with any group when it comes to the topic of the country's unity," she said.