news.cenet.topTurkish foreign minister meets Syrian interim president in the aftermath of sectarian violence

Desmond Milligan · August 7

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa Thursday in Damascus, as Syria’s new government struggles to unify and assert control over the country.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said only that the “two sides discussed regional and global developments and ways to enhance joint cooperation in various fields.”

Ankara has been a strong backer of the interim government in Damascus since former Syrian President Bashar Assad was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive in December.

Syria last month requested Turkey’s support to strengthen its defense capabilities following sectarian violence that increased tensions in the country and drew Israeli intervention.

Clashes erupted last month between members of Bedouin tribes and armed factions from the Druze religious minority in Syria’s southern Sweida province. Government forces that intervened, ostensibly to quell the fighting, ended up siding with the Bedouins.

Israel then launched strikes on government convoys in Sweida and on the Defense Ministry headquarters in Damascus, saying it was acting to protect the Druze.

Turkey has been vocally critical of Israeli intervention in Syria and also wants to curb the influence of the Kurdish groups controlling northeastern Syria.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has been a key U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group, but Ankara regards the SDF as a terrorist group because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.

In March, the SDF and Damascus reached an agreement to merge their forces, but its details were vague and the deal has not been implemented.

Turkish defense ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, accused the SDF Thursday of not following through on its commitment, adding that Ankara remains “committed to supporting the Syrian administration’s fight against terrorist organizations and to providing the requested training, advisory, and technical assistance to strengthen its defense and security capacity.”

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Fraser reported from Ankara.

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