Turkey has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad last month, ending his family's brutal five-decade rule. NATO member Turkey is now in a position to influence its neighbour's future diplomatically,
More than 50,000 Syrian refugees have left Turkey to return home since Bashar al-Assad's ouster. "Now he's gone, many are willing to return but the Syria they left is not the same place," he told AFP.
The new leadership of the country said the rebel coalition leader, Ahmed al-Shara, would serve as president during a transitional period.
No country has as much to gain from a stable Syria as Turkey, and few have as much to lose if it implodes. Turkey is home to more than 3m Syrian refugees, and wants Syria to be safe enough for many to return.
Assad, Turkey has become a vital power broker in Syria, with significant diplomatic, economic, and military influence. The country aims to leverage this to strengthen trade, cooperation, and address national security concerns related to Kurdish groups along its border.
The YPG spearheads the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkey considers them terrorists that are an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), against which Ankara carries out regular cross-border military operations in northern Iraq's mountainous regions.
Al-Sharaa is not willing to continue cooperation with Moscow without 'concrete measures such as compensation, reconstruction, and recovery' after years of support for the Assad regime
Russia’s deputy foreign minister and a special envoy arrived in Damascus. Theirs was the first such visit since President Bashar al-Assad fled the country, according to Russian state news.
Turkey and Syria have agreed to reevaluate customs tariffs for certain products and they discussed economic and trade relations during meetings in Damascus, the Turkish trade ministry said on Friday.
The emir’s trip to Damascus - the first by a head of state since Islamist-led rebels toppled president Bashar al-Assad less than two months ago - comes a day after Sharaa was appointed interim preside
He had spent the day with the leaders of Syria’s myriad armed factions, trying to persuade them to disband. Over seven weeks after the fall of Damascus, the fate of these groups is still uncertain. His aides claim that all militias will be dissolved and then absorbed into a new national army.