Turkish incursion is ‘flagrant aggression’, says Syria

THE Syrian government has said that Turkey informed Syria ahead of a major overnight military incursion but did not await Syrian agreement to the action, Reuters news agency reported.

  Turkish soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah in Syria were successfully evacuated to Turkey in the military operation early on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said.

  Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, would be moved to a different area of Syria, which has been brought under Turkish military control.

  Syrian State TV described the incursion as “flagrant aggression”.

  “Turkey goes beyond supporting ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist gangs to launch a blatant aggression on Syrian territory,” state-run Sana news said, referring to the alternate name of ISIL.

  The Turkish military said in a statement that there had been no clashes during the operation, the first such ground incursion by Turkish troops into Syria, but that one soldier had been killed in an accident.

  “Unfortunately, we had one casualty and this was not as a result of a clash but due to an accident that happened at the beginning of the operation,” Davutoglu said at a news conference in Ankara Sunday.

  The soldiers brought the remains of Suleyman Shah and some relics back to Turkey.

  The new planned site for the tomb, which is closer to the border, is under control of Turkish army. The replacement of the tomb will take place later, Davutoglu said.