Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar assured his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, today, Thursday, that Ankara will continue to respond to attacks emanating from northern Syria, after Moscow asked it to avoid a large-scale attack on Syrian territory.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said that his country's forces will continue to strike strongholds of what he described as "terrorism" until it is eliminated through military operations in northern Syria and Iraq.

He added - in a speech delivered in the capital, Ankara - "Our armed forces and warplanes are destroying the dens of terrorism with their operations in northern Iraq and Syria, which are the places where terrorist operations were planned in Turkey."

And he added, "There are members of parliament who are not comfortable with this matter. I tell them that we will be where terrorism is, through our intelligence and armed forces.. We will not stop our struggle against terrorism targeting our country, whether it is inside or outside Turkey."

And the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Syria had reported earlier that the Turkish artillery and warplanes had intensified their bombardment of the sites of what are known as the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern and northeastern Syria, and included Al-Malikiyah and Qamishli (Al-Hasakah Governorate), as well as the governorates of Al-Raqqa and Aleppo.

The Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement that Akar told his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu - during a phone call between them - that "Turkey's priority is to permanently ward off terrorist threats (from northern Syria)," noting the need to adhere to previous agreements on this issue.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the senior Russian negotiator, Alexander Lavrentiev, urged Turkey to refrain from launching a large-scale ground offensive in Syria, because such actions could lead to an escalation of violence, as he put it.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said that Moscow believes that Turkey's ground operation in northern Syria will increase tension and terrorist activity in the region.

She added that Moscow is in close contact with Ankara on Syria, and understands Turkey's concerns about threats to its national security.


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The Commander-in-Chief of what is known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, confirmed - in an interview with local media - that it is the first time that the Turkish army has targeted the regions of northern and eastern Syria with this depth and distance.

Abdi added that his forces take seriously the possibility of the Turkish army launching a new ground operation inside Syria in the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The media of what is known as the Syrian Democratic Forces stated that since the start of the Turkish air strikes 4 days ago, 11 fighters of the Kurdish units have been killed.

Ankara had said that its air campaign on the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Islamic State in Syria, and on the PKK sites in northern Iraq, came in response to the Istanbul bombing that took place on November 13, which killed 6 people and injured 81 others.

Turkey accused the Workers' Party and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces) of being behind the bombing, which they deny.