Helping the people of Kobane should not be used as an excuse for foreign intervention in Syria, a senior diplomat has said.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran calls on those who pursue ulterior motives “not to take advantage of the situation in the Syrian town of Kobane and the consequences of the disintegration of Syria,” IRNA reported Thursday.
Protecting Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity is in the interest of the Syrian people as well as the regional countries, he said.
He singled out the United States for its “destructive policies” which have resulted in the escalation of terrorism and foreign intervention in the chaotic Middle East under the pretext of fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria.
The Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobane has been under siege for weeks and is about to fall to IS fighters. Following an international outcry, the US conducted a series of air strikes to hold back the terrorists’ march in that city.
Turkey, which is a NATO member, has ruled out a ground operation on its own into Syria to save the city from the IS.
Ankara has repeatedly closed its border to tens of thousands of Kobane refugees, until under pressure from the international community it allowed a small number of Kurdish fighters cross the border this week to help Syrian Kurds defend the strategic town against Islamic State militants.
