Assad: Syria Will Resist Any Turkish Invasion of its Territory

10 May 2022, Syria, Damascus: A photo released by the Syrian Arab news agency (SANA) on 10 May 2022 shows New Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas taking his oath of office in front of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a swearing-in ceremony. (SANA/dpa)
10 May 2022, Syria, Damascus: A photo released by the Syrian Arab news agency (SANA) on 10 May 2022 shows New Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas taking his oath of office in front of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a swearing-in ceremony. (SANA/dpa)
TT
20

Assad: Syria Will Resist Any Turkish Invasion of its Territory

10 May 2022, Syria, Damascus: A photo released by the Syrian Arab news agency (SANA) on 10 May 2022 shows New Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas taking his oath of office in front of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a swearing-in ceremony. (SANA/dpa)
10 May 2022, Syria, Damascus: A photo released by the Syrian Arab news agency (SANA) on 10 May 2022 shows New Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas taking his oath of office in front of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a swearing-in ceremony. (SANA/dpa)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country will confront any Turkish invasion of its territories.

In an interview with Russia Today television on Thursday, he said in case of an invasion, Syria will respond with a popular resistance.

Of course, the resistance will take place in areas were the army forces are deployed, he said, noting that they are not positioned in all Syrian areas.

The military conditions allow for a direct confrontation, then "we will wage it", he added.

He cited a confrontation between the Syrian and Turkish armies in 2019, noting that the Syrian army was able to destroy some Turkish targets that entered Syrian territory.

"The situation will be the same according to the available military capacities," Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

Assad further noted that Russia is facing a war that cannot be tied to the issue of the NATO expansion.

"It is an ongoing war that has existed even before communism and the First World War," Assad said, stressing that Russia's power today constitutes, albeit partially, the restoration of the missing international balance.

He added that the aspired equilibrium will primarily affect small countries, including Syria.



Israeli Fire Kills 23 People in Gaza, Many at Aid Site

Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
TT
20

Israeli Fire Kills 23 People in Gaza, Many at Aid Site

Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Two Palestinians ride a small boat at the seafront next to a tent camp in the Gaza City port, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them near an aid distribution site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, local health authorities said.

Medics at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in central Gaza areas, where most of the casualties were moved to, said at least 15 people were killed as they tried to approach the GHF aid distribution site near the Netzarim corridor.

The rest were killed in separate attacks across the enclave, they added. There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli military or the GHF on Saturday's incidents, Reuters reported.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.

The Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday at least 274 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza.

Later on Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of Khan Younis and the nearby towns of Abassan and Bani Suhaila in the southern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and head west towards the so-called humanitarian zone area, saying it would forcefully work against "terror organizations" in the area.