TEHRAN – A member of the Iranian Parliament has suggested that influential countries, including Iran and Russian, mediate and persuade Turkey to halt military operation in northern Syria in order to prevent a fresh human catastrophe, ISNA reported on Saturday.

“People around the world hate wars and massacre of innocent civilians, including what is happening in Yemen and Afghanistan by the Saudi and American forces,” said Kamal Dehqani, who is in charge of the international relations of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

He touched upon the Turkish incursion into northern Syria and said, “The Turkish president’s justification (of attack on northern Syria) refers to Ankara’s claim about terrorist activities in northeastern Syria.”

“Of course, terrorist acts are not acceptable by anybody, but meantime, no country accepts aggression against another country, destabilizing security under pretext of countering terrorists,” the MP emphasized.

“In such cases, influential countries including Russia and Iran need to start playing a mediating role to prevent massacre of innocent people and maintain the Syrian government’s sovereignty,” Dehqani remarked.

“Definitely, Damascus will overcome problems in case of providing full backup for the country’s government,” he pointed out.
 
In an interview with ISNA published on Wednesday, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who sits on parliamentary committee, hoped that Turkey would end offensive on Kurdish populated areas in northern Syria.

“Syria is an independent Islamic country which was dealing with a crisis imposed by the United States for 6-7 years. This country settled its crisis through efforts made by the Syrian Army and government and also countries such as Iran and Russia. It was not right to impose another security crisis on Syria,” the veteran MP remarked.

Turkey launched military operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in northeast Syria on October 9 with the excuse that they are allied to Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Dozens of civilians have been killed in the operation so far and at least 160,000 have fled the area, according to the UN.  
According to the Associated Press, Syrian forces on Wednesday night rolled into the strategic border town of Kobani, blocking one path for the Turkish military to establish a “safe zone” free of Syrian Kurdish fighters along the frontier as part of its week-old offensive.

MJ/PA