Turkey has accused Russia of barbarism, stressing Tuesday that its bombing campaign in Syria has killed civilians, including children.
"Those vile, cruel and barbaric planes have made close to 8,000 sorties since September 30 without any discrimination between civilians and soldiers, or children and the elderly," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told his country's parliament, according to AFP.
The fresh declaration came after the Prime Minister's earlier statement, which labeled Russia as a terrorist organization. Turkey vehemently opposes the Russian incursion in Syria, particularly the country's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey recently alleged that Russia has targeted four hospitals and two schools, The Independent reported. This leveraged Turkey's position that Russia does not make any distinctions between terrorists, rebels and civilians in its air campaign.
Russia, for its part, has defended its actions, stressing that it is difficult to distinguish the rebels from the terrorists. "Can you actually tell an ISIS or Daesh member from Jaysh al-Islam or Jabhat al-Nusra members?" Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev told TIME in an interview. "Can you tell them apart from the way they look? By their ideology? They can't even tell each other apart."
The U.S. has called on the two countries to refrain from further escalating tensions in Syria with their rhetoric. "It is important that the Russians and Turks speak directly, and take measures to prevent escalation," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told AFP in a separate report.
