Turkey said on Thursday that Israel must withdraw from Syria and stop harming stabilization efforts there, after Israel stepped up air strikes in the neighboring country and accused Turkey of trying to turn Syria into a Turkish protectorate.
"Israel has become the greatest threat to regional security" and is a "strategic destabilizer, causing chaos and feeding terrorism," the foreign ministry in Ankara said.
"Therefore, in order to establish security throughout the region, Israel must first abandon its expansionist policies, withdraw from the territories it occupies, and stop undermining efforts to establish stability in Syria," it said.