Syria has censured a recent decision by Turkish and US military forces to begin joint ground patrols in a so-called safe zone east of the Euphrates in northeastern Syria, arguing that the move constitutes a blatant violation of the international law and the Syrian sovereignty.

“The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest terms the US administration and the Turkish regime for conducting joint patrols in the Syrian al-Jazirah region, which is in flagrant violation of the international law as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” an unnamed official source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates told Syria’s official news agency SANA on Sunday