"The statements made today by the Turkish president reaffirm that this regime... does not deal (with anyone) except in the language of occupation and aggression," state news agency SANA quoted a source at the Syrian foreign ministry as saying.

Turkey and the United States are calling for the creation of a "security zone" in northeastern Syria, a move the Kurdish militia controlling the area also sees as a military occupation.

"Syria stresses it continues to be determined to defend its people and the sanctity of its land against any kind of aggression or occupation, including the Turkish occupation of Syrian lands," the source said.

Ankara views the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as "terrorists", but they have also spearheaded the US-backed fight against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria.

A surprise announcement last month by President Donald Trump of a US military withdrawal from Syria caught the country's Kurds by surprise, and sent them scrambling to find a new ally in Damascus to protect them from a long-threatened Turkish attack.

Turkey has twice before led incursions into Syria, the latest seeing its Syrian rebel proxies seizing control of the northwestern enclave of Afrin from the Kurds in March last year.