Turkey calls for end of escalation after Iran retaliatory strikes
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According to the Turkish foreign ministry, Iran's response to Israeli attacks on its consulate "showed yet again that events can quickly transform into a regional war."
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Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Tehran, Iran, on September 3, 2023. (AP)
Turkey urged all parties to avoid further escalation, which might lead to a regional conflict, following Iran's unprecedented retaliatory strike on "Israel," which heightened Middle East tensions.
Turkey's foreign ministry released a statement in which it said it was "calling for an end to the escalation, to Iranian officials and to Western countries that have influence over Israel."
"Israel's attack against the Iranian embassy in Damascus, contrary to international law, provoked our concern. The Iranian reprisal... showed yet again that events can quickly transform into a regional war", it stated.
A diplomatic source previously stated that Turkey Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned his Iranian colleague Hossein Amirabdollahian that Turkey, which shares a border with Iran, wants to prevent "a new escalation."
On another note, Sputnik reported citing a diplomatic source that the Turkish Foreign Minister discussed with Blinken tensions between "Israel" and Iran and the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Syria declared on Sunday that Iran acted in self-defense by launching its retaliatory strike on "Israel," in response to a fatal Israeli strike on Tehran's embassy in Damascus.
According to SANA, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian via phone that Iran's response is a "legitimate right to self-defense."
The IRGC launched a massive operation late Saturday, targeting the occupation entity with dozens of missiles and drones in response to the attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus last week, which resulted in the martyrdom of seven senior IRGC advisors, including Brigadier General martyr Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the leader of the IRGC's Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
In a statement, the Corps said that the operation targeting "Israel," dubbed "True Promise," came following the "silence and neglect" of international organizations regarding the attack on the consulate and the assassination of its senior members. The statement pointed out that the United Nations Security Council also failed to condemn the Israeli aggression or punish the entity in accordance with Article 7 of the UN Charter.
The Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, announced on Sunday that two important Israeli military sites were targeted in Iran's response.
According to Bagheri, the Israeli intelligence's headquarters in "Mount Hermon," and the Nevatim Air Base were destroyed in the operation carried out earlier today, dubbed True Promise.
The first base provided "Israel" with information on the consulate in Damascus, while the F-35 used to carry out the strikes took off from the airbase.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
