Syrian president slams Turkish assault as blatant invasion

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday slammed the Turkish military assault in northern Syria as "blatant invasion and clear aggression" against Syria, state news agency SANA reported.

Assad made the remarks during his meeting with visiting Iraqi advisor of the National Security Council Faleh Fayyad in the capital Damascus.

The current Turkish "aggression" on Syria will be faced by all means on Syrian soil, Assad said.

For his side, Fayyad said both Iraq and Syria will keep mutual work on all levels to achieve the interests of the Syrian and Iraqi people.

According to SANA, Fayyad conveyed a message from Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi about developing cooperation between the two countries on combating terrorism, maintaining border security and enhancing economic cooperation.

On Oct. 9, Turkey and its allied Syrian rebel groups started an assault to eliminate Kurdish forces in northern Syria in order to end what Turkey perceives as the threat of "terrorist and separatist" groups on its southern border and to impose a safe zone to host millions of Syrian refugees.

With the gradual withdrawal of the U.S. from northern Syria in tandem with the Turkish attack, the Syrian army has moved to counter the Turkish offensive through assuming control of the areas controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) under a Russian-backed deal between the Syrian government and the Kurdish fighters.

The Syrian army has so far deployed in the key city of Manbij in northeastern Aleppo near Turkey, as well as the town of Tall Tamr in Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria and the vicinity of the Ayn Issa town in the northern countryside of Raqqa Province.