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Turkey's Offensive in Syria Creates Chaos in Middle East - Saudi Ambassador to UK

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Turkey launched an offensive in northern Syria on Wednesday in a bid to create a 'safe zone' along the border that would be free of Kurdish militias.
Sputnik

Turkey's offensive in northern Syria is creating chaos in the Middle East, the newly appointed Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, said on Tuesday.

"The Turkish assault is creating chaos. The last thing we need is another front of chaos in the region and I think we just got it," the ambassador said at the Royal United Services Institute, as quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

Saudi Arabia is concerned over US President Donald Trump's decision to wash his hands of the Ankara operation and de facto sanction it, Al Saud added.

At the same time, the ambassador praised Washington's decision to held Riyadh by providing troops and air defence systems, seeing it as a continuation of the US' commitment to ensuring security in the region.

The Turkish government has begun the 'Operation Peace Spring' in the north of Syria on Wednesday aiming at freeing the area near the Turkish-Syrian border from the Kurdish militants.

With the United States pulling its troops out of northern Syria and leaving its Kurdish allies on their own, the latter have turned to Damascus for help. Syrian government troops have since been deployed to assist the Kurds in repelling Turkish advances.

The international community has already voiced concerns that the Turkish incursion could worsen the humanitarian situation in the region and hamper efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.

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