In two messages sent Sunday to the U.N. secretary general and the president of the U.N. Security Council, Damascus also denounced recent statements made by the Turkish prime minister justifying shelling Kurdish fighters in Syria. Iran is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and has sent weapons, money and military advisers to Syria to help bolster his forces. Esmaili's remarks came after Turkey and Saudi Arabia -- leading supporters of the rebels battling to topple Assad -- said they were open to sending ground troops into Syria to battle the Islamic State group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group says two fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces — a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters — have been killed and seven others wounded in the shelling.