TENSIONS have escalated dangerously on the Syria-Turkey border, with Russian helicopters conducting a reconnaissance mission there on Saturday, a day after it launched air strikes on Turkish-backed militants. 

Six Russian choppers set off from Qamishlo international airport in north-east Syria and hovered over the border strip with Turkey in a reconnaissance mission, according to local reports. Russia did not disclose its objectives.

On Friday, Russian jets pummelled Islamist groups in the north-eastern countryside in Turkish-controlled Raqqa province.

Missiles struck positions in Tal Abyad, which sits just across the border from the Turkish town of Akcakale, once used by jihadists to cross into Syria as they fought to impose a caliphate there. 

It is the first time Russia has launched such an attack since the start of the foreign-backed war on Syria in 2011. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s commitment to Damascus and said that the future of Syria could only be resolved by respecting its sovereignty. 

“The existence of Russian forces in Syria is in full compliance with UN principles and its charter, and the forces perform duties outlined in resolution 2254,” he said in an interview last week. 

“We will support the Syrian leadership in its efforts to regain the territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.” 

Tensions have risen since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened an invasion of north-eastern Syria to create a so-called safe zone and repatriate about one million Syrian refugees. 

“We will soon take new steps regarding the incomplete portions of the project we started on the 30km-deep safe zone we established along our southern border,” he said last Monday. 

Mr Erdogan said the target of the Turkish operations would be the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which is allied with the United States, and seen by Damascus as an occupying force. 

Despite this, the Syrian government has condemned the “colonialist” plans of its Turkish neighbour and has written to the United Nations accusing it of war crimes.

“The Syrian government rejects these plans and calls on the states that are involved in financing these criminal projects to stop supporting the Turkish government immediately,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

“The creation of such zones is not intended to protect the border areas between Syria and Turkey but the main objective is colonialism [and the implementation of] terrorist plans directed against the Syrian people.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzade warned against Turkey’s military intervention on Saturday, saying it would lead to humanitarian catastrophe.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran opposes any military action and the use of force on the territory of other countries with the aim of resolving disputes between them and considers it a violation of the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of those countries,” he said.