Jaafari To Turkey: Syria Not Seeking Any Escalation, Stop Arms, Militants Smuggling

Local Editor

Syria's Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari sent Syria's "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims "and to the friendly and brotherly people of Turkey."

In the letter he delivered to the United Nations, Jaafari highlighted that the Syrian government hadn't apologized for the shelling from Syria because it is waiting for the outcome of an investigation on the source of the firing.

He further urged Turkey and its other neighbors to "act wisely, rationally and responsibly and to prevent cross-border infiltration of terrorists and insurgents and the smuggling of arms."

In parallel, Syria's Jaafari said the "Syrian government is keenly interested in maintaining good neighborly relations with Turkey."
"The Syrian government is not seeking any escalation with any of its neighbors, including Turkey," he stressed.
However, he said Syria wants to explain to the Turkish people that their government's policies supporting the opposition "are wrong and have been wrong since the beginning of the crisis."

Jaafari also highlighted that Turkey responded to the incident by launching artillery shells into Syria starting at 7pm local time on Wednesday and stopping at midnight. "Turkish troops then resumed artillery shelling on Thursday morning until 7 am, injuring two Syrian army officers," he noted.
"Our forces practiced self-restraint and did not respond to this Turkish artillery shelling," Jaafari stated.

The Syrian ambassador said he delivered another letter to the Security Council, seeking its condemnation of four suicide terrorist bombings in the country's largest city and commercial capital, Aleppo. The bombings killed scores of innocent civilians on Wednesday simultaneously as the cross-border shelling occurred."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org