Syria ‘ready to destroy’ Turkish warplanes attacking Afrin

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Syrian government on Thursday threatened to retaliate if Turkey began an air campaign against Kurds in the northern enclave of Afrin.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said any Turkish warplane in Syria’s airspace would be considered “an act of aggression,” and would be shot down.

Mekdad added that the Syrian Air Force would not stand idle with a Turkish military incursion into its Kurdish-populated north and was “ready to destroy Turkish air targets in the skies of Syria.”

“We warn the Turkish leaders that if they start fighting in the region of Afrin, it will be seen as an aggression by the Turkish army against the sovereignty of Syria,” the Deputy Foreign Minister affirmed.

The response comes after Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country were awaiting a greenlight from ally Russia before beginning any military action against the Kurdish region of Afrin.

Cavusoglu’s remarks revealed Moscow to be the primary deterrent so far in front of oft-repeated threats of an invasion of the isolated Kurdish enclave by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration.

Last week, the US-led Coalition announced the formation of a new “Border Security Force,” tasked with protecting Syria’s mostly Kurdish-controlled eastern and northern borders with its neighbors, Iraq and Turkey respectively.

Erdogan’s administration demanded from Washington to cease its military aid to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) which have been at the forefront of the war on the Islamic State (IS) during much of the six years-long civil war in Syria.

Criticizing the US for partnering with the YPG, labeled a terror group only by Turkey, Ankara said it had expected its NATO ally to take back weapons and vehicles provided to the Kurdish-led forces.

“The war with [IS] on the ground has ended in Syria,” Turkey said in its call on the US to stop supporting the Kurds.