DAMASCUS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Syrian Foreign Ministry has released its strongest condemnation of the Turkish military campaign in northern Syria, the state news agency SANA reported on Thursday.
The ministry said in a statement that the Turkish campaign, which started on Wednesday, is causing civilian causalities as it targets "innocent civilians" in northern Syria under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
It added that the Turkish government "is drowned in the blood of Syrians."
This comes as SANA reported that five civilians were killed on Thursday while eight others were killed in the previous day by the Turkish shelling in northern Syria.
The statement said that protecting the Syrian people is the duty of the Syrian army only, stressing that the Turkish attack will be faced by all means possible.
On Wednesday, Turkey announced the beginning of its long-threatened military campaign in northern Syria to eliminate the Kurdish forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces and its umbrella of the People's Protection Units, which are both deemed by Ankara as separatists and terrorists.
