Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, sits with Syria's interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, during their meeting in Damascus, Syria. AP
In a statement posted on X, Fidan pledged continued support for Syria’s fight against extremist groups, and reiterated Turkey's readiness to help manage camps in northeastern Syria that house people with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State group.
The two also discussed Israel’s aggression in Syria, Fidan said on X, denouncing Israel for “pursuing a policy of destabilization in our region” and calling on the international community not to allow its “policies to prevail.”
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. It was Fidan's third visit to Damascus since Assad's fall.
Syria last month requested Turkey’s support to strengthen its defence 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 Defence Ministry headquarters in Damascus, presenting itself as a defender of the minority group -- though many see this as a pretext for pushing Syrian government forces further from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Following Assad’s ouster, Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, violating the country’s sovereignty in what it said was an effort to stop weapons from falling into the hands of the new Islamist authorities.
Turkey has been vocally critical of Israeli intervention in Syria, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning Israel was "using the Druze as an excuse" for expanding into the war-torn country.
Ankara also seeks to curb the influence of Kurdish groups controlling northeastern Syria, viewing the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as terrorists because of their ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey.
In March, the SDF and Damascus reached an agreement to merge their forces, but the details of the deal were vague, and the deal has not been implemented.
Turkish defence 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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