Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s remarks came at the start of his visit to Syria, where he was expected to discuss mutual relations and regional affairs with top Syrian officials. Iran has been one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest backers, sending thousands of fighters from across the region to aid his troops in Syria’s 11-year conflict. The war has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Amirabdollahian’s visit came hours after Israel carried out an airstrike on a coastal Syrian village near the border with Lebanon, wounding two people, according to Syrian state media reports. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said he was planning another major military cross-border incursion into Syria to establish a 30-kilometer (19-mile) deep security zone along the border with Turkey, vowing to fight US-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters. for the territory. Erdogan’s 2019 attempt to build up the stockpile failed, although Turkish troops are being deployed in Syria after previous incursions to support Syrian opposition fighters against Assad. Ankara views US-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists who have allied with Kurdish rebels inside Turkey’s borders. “We understand the concerns of our neighbor Turkey, but we oppose any military measure in Syria,” Amirabdollahian said, adding that Iran was trying to resolve the “misunderstanding between Turkey and Syria through dialogue.” Amirabdollahian met later on Saturday with Assad, who told the Iranian envoy that “Turkey’s pretexts to justify its aggression in Syria are false, misleading and have nothing to do with reality.” Assad’s office also reported that the president said Turkey’s military presence in Syria violated international law. The story continues Analysts said Erdogan was taking advantage of the war in Ukraine to advance his own goals in Syria. Turkey agreed this week to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, saying the Nordic nations agreed to crack down on groups Ankara sees as threats to national security, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the of its Syrian extension. Turkey has asked Finland and Sweden to extradite wanted people and lift arms restrictions imposed on Ankara after Turkey’s 2019 military invasion of northeastern Syria. Amirabdollahian condemned Israel for striking Syria. Saturday morning’s attack was the first since the June 10 airstrike on Damascus International Airport caused significant damage to the airport and rendered its main runway unusable. The airport remained closed for two weeks for repairs before resuming flights on June 23. Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that Israeli warplanes flying over northern Lebanon fired missiles at several chicken farms in the village of Hamidiyeh, south of the coastal city of Tartus. The attack took place a few kilometers (miles) north of the border with Lebanon. SANA said two people, including a woman, were injured and there was property damage. Over the years, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against targets in Syria, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Israel says it is targeting bases of Iran-allied militias, such as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has fighters deployed in Syria fighting alongside Assad’s government forces and ships weapons believed to be destined for the militias. The June strike at Damascus International Airport marked a major escalation in Israel’s campaign, further escalating tensions between Israel on the one hand and Iran and Hezbollah on the other.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
