Turkey’s International Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria’s de facto chief Ahmed al-Sharaa – often known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – in Damascus on Sunday, Turkey’s overseas ministry stated, with out offering additional particulars.
Pictures and photographs shared by the ministry confirmed Fidan and Sharaa, chief of Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham which led the operation to topple Bashar al-Assad two weeks in the past, stroll forward of a crowded delegation earlier than posing for pictures.
The 2 are additionally seen shaking arms, hugging, and smiling.
On Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey would assist Syria’s new administration kind a state construction and draft a brand new structure, including Fidan would head to Damascus to debate this new construction, with out offering a date.
Ibrahim Kalin, the pinnacle of Turkey’s MIT intelligence company, additionally visited Damascus on Dec. 12, 4 days after Assad’s fall.
Ankara had for years backed rebels trying to oust Assad and welcomed the tip of his household’s brutal five-decade rule after a 13-year civil struggle. Turkey additionally hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian migrants it hopes will begin returning residence after Assad’s fall, and has vowed to assist rebuild Syria.
Fidan’s go to comes amid preventing in northeast Syria between Turkey-backed Syrian fighters and the Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheads the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) within the northeast and Ankara regards as a terrorist organisation.
Earlier, Turkey’s defence minister stated Ankara believed that Syria’s new management, together with the Syrian Nationwide Military (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive YPG fighters from all territory they occupy within the northeast.
Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted a number of cross-border offensives in opposition to the Kurdish faction in northern Syria and controls swathes of Syrian territory alongside the border, whereas repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington halts help for the Kurdish fighters.
The SDF has been on the again foot since Assad’s fall, with the specter of advances from Ankara and Turkey-backed teams because it seems to protect political positive factors made within the final 13 years, and with Syria’s new rulers being pleasant to Ankara.
This text was produced by Reuters information company. It has not been edited by International South World.
