Istanbul: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday claimed that Israel would “set its sights” on Turkiye if it succeeded in defeating Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory following Hamas’s attack on October 7, has often expressed support for the Palestinian group as defenders of their homeland.
Hamas is classed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, among others.
“Do not think that Israel will stop in Gaza,” Erdogan told his party lawmakers in the parliament in the capital Ankara.
“Unless it’s stopped... this rogue and terrorist state will set its sights on Anatolia sooner or later,” he said, referring to the large Turkish peninsula also called Asia Minor that comprises more than half of Turkiye’s territory.
“We will continue to stand by Hamas, which fights for the independence of its own land and which defends Anatolia,” added Erdogan.
The Turkish leader on Monday said more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in Turkish hospitals amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized some 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead.
Israel’s bombardment and offensive in Gaza have killed more than 35,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Erdogan says Israel will ‘set sights’ on Turkiye if Hamas defeated
Erdogan says Israel will ‘set sights’ on Turkiye if Hamas defeated
- Turkish leader on Monday said more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in Turkish hospitals
Syria ministry says gunman who killed Americans was to be fired from security forces for ‘extremism’
Syria ministry says gunman who killed Americans was to be fired from security forces for ‘extremism’
- Syrian authorities “had decided to fire him” from the security forces before the attack for holding “extremist Islamist ideas” and had planned to do so on Sunday
DAMASCUS: Syria’s interior ministry said on Sunday that the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.
Two US troops and a civilian interpreter died in the attack on Saturday, which the US Central Command said had been carried out by an alleged Daesh group (IS) militant who was then killed.
The Syrian authorities “had decided to fire him” from the security forces before the attack for holding “extremist Islamist ideas” and had planned to do so on Sunday, interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba told state television.
A Syrian security official told AFP on Sunday that “11 members of the general security forces were arrested and brought in for questioning after the attack.”
The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the gunman had belonged to the security forces “for more than 10 months and was posted to several cities before being transferred to Palmyra.”
Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins, was once controlled by Daesh during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.
The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country’s ties with the United States.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” in support of counter-terrorism operations when the attack occurred, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted “a joint US-Syrian government patrol.”
US President Donald Trump called the incident “a Daesh attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” using another term for the group.
He said the three other US troops injured in the attack were “doing well.”
