Author: SUZAN FRASER Associated Press, IBRAHIM HAZBOUN Associated Press, ABC News
Published on: 15/03/2025 | 06:02:41
AI Summary:
Turkey has emerged as a key player in Syria and is advocating for a stable and united Syria. It welcomed a breakthrough agreement signed this week with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Israel remains deeply suspicious of Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa. Turkey has launched operations in northern Syria to push back Syrian Kurdish militias linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Turkey and Syria are now cooperating to strengthen the country’s defense and security, and that a military delegation will visit Syria next week. Israeli officials say they will not tolerate a Syrian military presence south of Damascus and have threatened to invade a suburb in defense of Druze minority sect members. Turkish authorities are increasingly concerned that Israel is “supportive” of autonomy demands from Kurds, the Druze and Alawites. Erdogan issued a thinly veiled threat against Israel last week, saying: “Those who seek to provoke ethnic and religious (divisions) in Syria to exploit instability in the country should know that they will not be able to achieve their goals” Last week factions allied with the new Syrian government launched revenge attacks on members of Assad’s Alawite minority sect. Brookings Institute’s Aydintasbas says the escalating tensions are cause for serious concern. “Before we used to have Israel and Turkey occasionally engage in spats,” he says.
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