"Mass shelling of the Syrian territory by Turkey, Ankara’s and Riyadh’s plans to start ground operations in Syria may upgrade the Syrian crisis to a new, dangerous level – a direct military confrontation between countries in the region," CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha told reporters.
The military alliance of former Soviet republics – Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – fears that Saudi and Turkish boots on the ground in Syria would pose a threat to CSTO member states, Bordyuzha added.
Tensions in the region have escalated in the past months after regional powers openly sided with opposing warring parties in Syria. Meanwhile, a diplomatic breakdown between Saudi Arabia and Iran in January split Middle Eastern nations along the lines of Sunni-Shiite religious divide.
