Syria urges intl. community to take action against Turkish aggression

Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has called on the international community, particularly European countries, to adopt a genuine humanitarian stance vis-à-vis the sufferings of Syrian people, and severely censure the Turkish military onslaught in the northwest of the Arab country.

On Thursday, an unnamed official at the ministry slammed the misleading statements being made by Western statesmen about the humanitarian situation in Idlib province in the wake of the Syrian army's ongoing battle against terrorist groups there, emphasizing that their reckless disregard for crimes being perpetrated by the Takfiris and Turkish forces against local Syrian civilians in the area prove the outrageous level of their hypocrisy and travesty, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

The source added that such remarks clearly show that these politicians tend to politicize any humanitarian issue only for the sake of their own interests regardless of the massacre and displacement of Syrians and the deterioration of their living conditions.

“Syria reminds those states that the fight against terrorism within its territory is a legitimate right enshrined in the international law and conventions, particularly as those terrorist groups are led by the (so-called) Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance of militant outfits, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council,” the source pointed out.

He noted, “Whilst Western countries, especially Germany and France, are trying to exploit the humanitarian situation in Idlib in order to cease the Syrian army operations against terrorists there, they capitulate to the blackmail of (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan who continues to take advantage of the sufferings of displaced Syrians.”

This comes as Press TV has obtained credible information from sources on the ground that Ankara is generously offering various kinds of support to roughly 80,000 Takfiri militants in their battles against Syrian government forces and allied fighters from popular defense groups.

Turkey rebrands 80,000 terrorists to stop Syria's liberation of Idlib

Some 80,000 Turkey-backed terrorists are fighting Syrian troops in northwest Syria after Ankara rebrands them as opposition groups.

The sources, requesting not to be named, said some 38,500 extremists are operating under the banner of the so-called National Front for Liberation. The group joined the Turkish-backed so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) on October 4 last year, and their merger was announced at a press conference in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa at the time.

The FSA is estimated to have 22,000 members, who are commanded by self-proclaimed Colonel Haitham al-Ofeisi.

Additionally, the al-Qaeda affiliated HTS receives major support from Turkey. The militant coalition is led by Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a, known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, and is believed to consist of 18,000 militants.

On Wednesday, a fight broke out in the Turkish parliament between lawmakers from opposing parties during a tense discussion about Turkey's military campaign in northwestern Syria.

Video images showed dozens of legislators from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party and from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) pushing each other, throwing punches while others try to pull the brawling legislators apart.

The clash started when CHP legislator Engin Ozkoc took the rostrum.

Earlier in the day, Ozkoc called Erdogan "dishonorable, ignoble, low and treacherous."

He also accused the president of sending the children of Turkey's people to fight while his own offspring allegedly avoided long-term military service.

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