Syria accuses Turkey of building separation wall

Syria has accused Turkey of bringing in equipment to build a separation wall in northern Syria.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry in a letter of condemnation to the UN on Friday said the Turkish government's aggression on Syrian soil was incessant, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Turkish forces and border control guards on January 11 brought in heavy machines and trucks in northern Syria, particularly in Hasakah province, began making a dirt road and digging a trench while installing cement pillars to build a separation wall.

Three days later, the Turkish forces entered the Syrian territory at a depth of 250 metres in the town of Arab Tuma in Aleppo province, and began making a two km road to build a separation barrier in that area.

According to the ministry, Turkish trucks yanked 2,500 olive trees in the Sheikh Hadid town in Aleppo countryside and captured areas to build a cement wall, while moving the fence at the Turkish Syrian borders 100 metres deep inside Syrian territories with a length of 600 metres.

The forces also repeated the move in the province of Idlib, which also has borders with Turkey.

The Turkish forces captured six acres of lands in the Harem area in Idlib countryside that belong to Syria with the aim to build the wall.

The ministry said the Turkish authorities had set up a military base in the village of Jitar in Aleppo, containing arm depots and barracks for its officers and soldiers.

The Foreign Ministry condemned Ankara's "incursion", adding it was a continuation of the Turkish violations that include providing various forms of military, material and logistic support to the rebels, bringing foreign "terrorists", facilitating their entry into Syria and setting up training camps for them on Turkish soil and providing arms and fire cover to the terrorist groups fighting inside Syria.

It urged the UN to pressure Turkey into halting its "violations against Syria and to implement UN Security Council resolutions pertaining countering terrorism".

Turkey has for long spoken of its intentions to create safe zones in northern Syria, and the recent revelation by the Syrian government regarding the Turkish wall building nurture the conviction that Ankara is moving on with its plans.

Syrian government officials recently said any unilateral international actions without the consent of Damascus will be dealt with as violations to the country's sovereignty.

President Bashar al-Assad said setting up safe zones in northern Syria was "unrealistic".

--IANS

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