Washington and Ankara do not coordinate their military operations on Syria’s territory with Damascus, their presence in the country can be regarded as intervention, a senior Syrian Army official told Sputnik.

Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area of the Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries. As Jarabulus was retaken, the joint forces of Ankara, the coalition and Syrian rebels continued the offensive southwest.

“There is no coordination between us on the one side and Turkey and the United States on the other… We believe that the actions of these two countries in northern Syria are interference in our internal affairs, aggression and intervention,” Brig. Gen. Samir Suleiman, Head of the Media Affairs of the Syrian Army’s Political Office, said.

He stressed that the Syrian army will withstand “any attempts of intervention on the part of foreign states.”

The operation has been widely criticized both by the Syrian Kurds and Damascus accusing Ankara of violating Syria’s territorial integrity.

US forces are also on the ground in Syria, equipping, advising, and training Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and partners for the operation to isolate and then retake the Daesh stronghold of Raqqa, Coalition Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said last Wednesday.