Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday advised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against a new military offensive in Syria, Deutsche Welle Turkish reported. The remarks arrived ahead a trilateral summit between Turkey, Iran and Russia in Tehran, it said. A new offensive by Turkey into its neighbouring war-torn nation would “be to the detriment of Syria, Turkey and the region,” DW cited Khamenei as saying in remarks published by his website. Erdoğan in May said his military was preparing for an operation in northern Syria with the goal of expanding a 30-kilometer (19 mile) security zone that extends south from the Turkish border. The zone was established after another Turkish military offensive in 2019. The offensive could involve tens of thousands of Turkish troops and Syrian fighters and would target the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian-Kurdish group it considers to be an extension of the PKK, an armed group that has been at war in Turkey for Kurdish self-rule for 40 years. While Iran would “certainly cooperate” with Ankara in fighting terrorism, Khamanei said, a new offensive in Syria would actually benefit “terrorists”, who “are not limited to a certain group.” Iran considers the security of Turkey’s borders as it would its own, DW cited Khamanei as telling Erdoğan, adding that issues in Syria should be resolved through dialogue. Erdoğan has gone on record to accuse the Western states of “standing by terrorists” in failing to support Turkey’s operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Ahval