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)
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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.



Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave "very serious and shameful.”

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.

"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians," the text said, according to Reuters.
"We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."

The pope, 88, was present for the address but asked an aide to read it for him as he is recovering from a cold.

The comments were part of an address to Vatican-accredited envoys from some 184 countries that is sometimes called the pope's 'state of the world' speech. The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See was among those present for the event.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts.
But he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and has suggested
the global community should study whether the offensive constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
An Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff in December for that suggestion.

The pope's text said he condemns anti-Semitism, and called the growth of anti-Semitic groups "a source of deep concern."
Francis also called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has killed tens of thousands.