Iran's Khamenei tells Erdogan to avoid military action in north Syria
The Turkish president and his Russian counterpart were both in Tehran for a key regional meeting on the war-torn Syria.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cautioned Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today against launching an operation into Syria, a plan that has been in Ankara's pipeline for weeks.
"Any military offensive into Syria's north will definitely harm Turkey, Syria and the greater region, and will benefit the terrorists," Khamenei told the visiting Turkish leader during a meeting in Tehran July 19.
According to Khamenei's website, he did not specify who those "terrorists" were, but underscored the importance Iran attaches to Syria's territorial integrity.
Turkey recently threatened an incursion into Syria's autonomous north controlled by People's Protection Units, a Kurdish group known by its Kurdish acronym, the YPG. Ankara links the militants to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which since 1984 has been waging a protracted war against the Turkish state for autonomy for the country's Kurdish south.
