Syria Accuses Turkey of Giving al-Qaeda Access

FM Complains to UN That Turkey Is Allowing Thousands of Terrorists In

Syrian Foreign Ministry officials have issued a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council, accusing neighboring Turkey of giving access to “thousands of al-Qaeda, Takfiri and Wahhabi terrorists” who are using the country to enter Syria.

Whether Turkey is deliberately doing this or not, there seems to be solid evidence that it is happening, as the Syrian Civil War is seeing a rebel faction increasingly split between Syrian military defectors and international jihadists with an eye on creating a theocracy.

Such fighters may be coming from any direction, and some are undoubtedly trickling in from Jordan and Iraq. But Turkey is the go-to location for rebel factions, and many are openly setting up shop in Ankara and Istanbul with the government’s blessing.

Turkey has made no real secret of its desire for regime change in Syria, backing some rebel blocs openly even though the war increasingly looks to be a worst-case result for not just Syria but Turkey as well. With several NATO members on the UN Security Council, it is a given that the Syrian complaint will be ignored, but it sets the stage for yet more bickering about Western meddling, and the route through which it is arriving in Syria’s major cities.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.