Iran Warns Türkiye Against Launching Military Operation in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (EPA)
TT

Iran Warns Türkiye Against Launching Military Operation in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (EPA)

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a phone conversation, exchanged views on the latest border developments and military conflicts between Türkiye and Syria.

During the talks, Amirabdollahian said Iran understands Türkiye's security concerns and stressed the need to end them.

However, Amirabdollahian said that "achieving that goal necessitates constant security talks between the two countries, said the Iranian foreign minister, adding that a resort to ground military operations will not only fail to solve the problems but will cause damage and complicate the situation."

According to the German news agency, the Iranian foreign minister also expressed Tehran's readiness to provide any assistance to reach a political solution to the existing problems between Türkiye and Syria.

For his part, Cavusoglu explained his country's position on the current situation in Syria, describing Iran's role as "constructive."

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on Türkiye to refrain from any ground invasion of northern Syria or military strikes against the north of Iraq, according to Reuters.

Turkish officials said Monday that its forces need just days to be ready for a ground incursion into northern Syria, which they have been attacking with long-range weapons and warplanes for days.

"I have urgently appealed (Türkiye) to refrain from measures that would further escalate violence – such as a potential ground invasion of northern Syria or military action in northern Iraq," Baerbock said on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Bucharest.

Turkey's bombardments of a Kurdish militia across the border in Syria come after months of threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of a new ground invasion against Kurdish forces, which he considers to be terrorists.

"International law applies, of course, when it comes to the protection against acts of terrorism," Baerbock said.

Syria sees Turkey as an occupying force in its north, and Damascus has said it would consider any new Turkish incursions to be "war crimes."



North Korean Troops Experience Mass Casualties on Ukraine Front Lines, White House Says

A Ukrainian soldier reflected in a car mirror looks on as a Swedish-made Archer Howitzer operated by Ukrainian members of the 45th Artillery Brigade fires towards Russian positions, in the Donetsk region, on January 20, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
A Ukrainian soldier reflected in a car mirror looks on as a Swedish-made Archer Howitzer operated by Ukrainian members of the 45th Artillery Brigade fires towards Russian positions, in the Donetsk region, on January 20, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
TT

North Korean Troops Experience Mass Casualties on Ukraine Front Lines, White House Says

A Ukrainian soldier reflected in a car mirror looks on as a Swedish-made Archer Howitzer operated by Ukrainian members of the 45th Artillery Brigade fires towards Russian positions, in the Donetsk region, on January 20, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
A Ukrainian soldier reflected in a car mirror looks on as a Swedish-made Archer Howitzer operated by Ukrainian members of the 45th Artillery Brigade fires towards Russian positions, in the Donetsk region, on January 20, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

North Korean forces are experiencing mass casualties on the front lines of Russia's war against Ukraine, with a thousand of their troops killed or wounded in the last week alone in the Kursk region of Russia, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday.

The number far exceeds the figure US officials have previously provided.

"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," Kirby said, describing the North Korean troops' offensive as "massed, dismounted assaults."

The North Korean and Russian missions to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kirby said President Joe Biden would likely approve another security assistance package for Ukraine in coming days. Earlier this week, Biden condemned Russia's Christmas Day attacks on Ukraine's energy system and some of its cities and asked the Defense Department to continue its surge of weapons to Ukraine.

On Dec. 17, a US military official said North Korea had suffered several hundred casualties while fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region.

Asked about what ranks the North Korean casualties included, the military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was from lower-level troops to "very near to the top."

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed and wounded in Russia's Kursk region.