Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a Russian newspaper on Friday that taking the city of Aleppo from rebel forces who are backed by Turkey will be a springboard for Syria’s army to push the “terrorists” back to Turkey.
“You have to keep clearing this area and push the terrorists into Turkey, to where they came from, or kill them. There’s no other option,” Assad said in an interview with Russian’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
He also added that Turkey’s actions in Syria constitute an invasion that that is against international law.
In late August Turkey launched an incursion from its southern Kilis province – an area frequently targeted by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) rockets — and entered northern Syria. Meanwhile, Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters seized several villages and towns from ISIL, pushing its militants away from the Turkish border.