Turkish President Erdogan:

Israeli regime pushing Middle East to war

Rasa - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lambasted the Israeli regime for its use of “unnecessary aggression” in Syria following recent Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn Arab country, saying Tel Aviv is dragging the Middle East into war.

News ID: 437664

Date: 13 May 2018 - 21:56

RNA - The Turkish president made the comments in an interview with BBC Arabic on Sunday, saying the occupying regime “is sowing fear and pushing” the Middle East “region to war.”

Erdogan also denounced the Israeli aerial aggression against the sovereignty of Syria, three days after Israeli warplanes attacked dozens of “targets” inside the Arab country in what was said to be the most extensive strike in Syria in decades.

Over the past few years, Israel has frequently attacked military targets in Syria in what is considered as an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy defeats against Syrian government forces, which has been fighting against foreign-sponsored militant outfits since 2011.

Israel has also been providing weapons to anti-Damascus militants as well as medical treatment to the Takfiri elements wounded in Syria.

In late March, the Turkish leader also “strongly” condemned Israeli troops’ “inhumane attack” on Palestinian demonstrators on the border of the besieged Gaza Strip, a day after the Israeli military killed 16 unarmed Palestinian protesters. As for May 13, the death toll stands at 53.

“Have you heard any noteworthy objections to the massacre by Israel that happened yesterday in Gaza from those who criticize the Afrin operation?” Erdogan asked during a speech he delivered in Istanbul on March 31.

According to Press TV, he was referring to Ankara’s cross-border military operation in Syria’s enclave of Afrin against the militants of the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), whom the Turkish government views as terrorists. Afrin was captured on March 18.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Erdogan criticized the controversial decision made on Tuesday by US President Donald Trump in pulling out of the landmark, multinational and hard-fought nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA came out of years of negotiations between Iran on one side and the P5+1 group of countries, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany, on the other, in July 2015.

A day after Trump’s provocative decision, which triggered international condemnations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a statement, reiterating that Iran is in full compliance with the terms of the JCPOA.

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