Syria must never be divided again and Turkey will act against anyone seeking to compromise its territory, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
"From now on, we cannot allow Syria to be divided again... Any attack on the freedom of the Syrian people, the stability of the new administration, and the integrity of its lands will find us standing against it," he said.
Turkey's foreign ministry had earlier denounced Israel after its forces entered a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights following Assad's ouster, reiterating its support for Syria's "territorial integrity".
"In this sensitive period, when the possibility of achieving the peace and stability that the Syrian people have desired for many years has emerged, Israel is once again displaying its occupying mentality," it said in a statement.
The Golan Heights is a mountainous plateau at Syria's southwestern edge, most of which was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed.
It is separated from the Syrian side by a UN-patrolled buffer zone which Israeli troops entered at the weekend.
Israel's top diplomat Gideon Saar said the move was a "limited and temporary step" for "security reasons".
With AFP
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