Turkey condemns regime attacks in southwestern Syria

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA

Turkey on Friday condemned the Bashar al-Assad-led regime attacks carried out against civilians in the southwestern Syrian provinces of Daraa and Quneitra.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy in a statement said: "In Syria's southwestern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra that were declared as de-escalation zones by a memorandum signed in Astana, hundreds of innocent people have been assassinated in the Syrian regime's attacks targeting civilians."

"We feel great sorrow and concern about this. We strongly condemn these inhumane attacks," added Aksoy.

He also said that the regime's attacks "undermine the Astana and Geneva efforts" to find a solution to the political crisis and reduce violence on the ground.

Aksoy's statement urged the international community and the other guarantor countries in the Astana talks -- Russia and Iran -- to put an end to the attacks.

The Daraa and Quneitra provinces in Syria's southwest are one of the four de-escalation zones established during Astana talks in May 2017.

Russia, Jordan and the U.S. also negotiated to consider the provinces as de-escalation zones.

The United Nations warned on Tuesday that a total of 750,000 lives are in danger in Daraa, and 45,000 people have been displaced.