ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Iran and Syria have both voiced concern about Turkey’s incursion into Syrian territory after Turkey intervened in Syria, bombarding the Syrian border town of Jarablus and moving its forces into the town on Wednesday and, subsequently expanding its military intervention in Syria. 

Both Syria and Iran consider the move a violation of Syrian sovereignty and they asked Turkey to respect international principles and laws.

Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s envoy to the United Nations (UN), described Turkey’s military incursion into Syria as a “violation of Syria’s sovereignty,” and he accused Turkey of being first “in sponsoring terrorism in Syria with Gulf funding,” according to CNN Arabic, on Friday.

“Syria would not dare to have military operations in Jarablus. But Turkey followed the model which is the creation of the US’ global coalition, which has been violating Syrian sovereignty for the past two years,” Jaafari said.

He refuted Erdogan’s argument that Turkey’s operations were to limited to responding to ISIS attacks on Turkey from Syrian territory. “What’s happening on the northern Syrian border with Turkey is ‘an old story’ because the Turkish regime violated Syrian sovereignty before by intervening and allowing terrorists to infiltrate via its borders,” he said.

“How accurate is Turkey’s claim that it is fighting ISIS in Jarablus when it allowed the establishment of such a terrorist organization, strengthened and supported with thousands of Toyota vehicles and other trucks, and carried weapons and Gulf money to buy weapons for ISIS from many countries such as Ukraine, Croatia, and Bulgaria?” Jaafari asked.

He stressed that “Those want to help Syria in the war on terror, should coordinate with the Syrian Arab Army and exchange information on terrorists and join the clean global coalition against terror.”

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi also urged coordination with the Syrian government. 

“The fight against terrorist organizations in Syria should be coordinated with the Syrian government, with an emphasis on respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, which is one of the foundations and principles of international law,” Ghasemi said on Thursday, according to Syrian News Agency (SANA).

“Iran has always stressed on the need for collective cooperation to combat terrorism as it is an international responsibility and all the countries of the region have to cooperate to confront to ominous phenomenon of terrorism,” he added.