Turkiye to provide weapons support to Syria under new defence agreement

Ankara, Aug 14 (AP) Turkiye will provide weapons, military equipment, and logistical support to Syria under a newly signed defence cooperation agreement, Turkish Defence Ministry officials said Thursday.
    The announcement came a day after Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Syria's Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on military training and consultancy, reinforcing Turkiye's support to Syria's interim government.
    Syria last month requested Turkiye's support to strengthen its defence capabilities following sectarian violence in the country that also drew intervention by Israel.
    Under the agreement, Turkiye would share its “knowledge and experience” and supply military equipment, weapons systems and logistical materials to help strengthen the country's capabilities, Turkish Defence Ministry officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to be quoted by name.
    Syria's newly formed interim government has faced mounting challenges in restoring order and addressing the deep scars left by nearly 14 years of civil conflict, following the ouster of former President Bashar Assad by Islamist-led rebel forces in December.
    Most recently, hundreds were killed in clashes in the southern province of Sweida between government forces and local Bedouin tribesmen on one side and fighters from the Druze minority on the other.
    Turkiye has been supportive of Syria's new administration, which is formed largely by rebels that Ankara backed during the civil war.
    Also Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned Israel and Kurdish fighters to cease actions threatening Syria's stability, accusing them of undermining the country's efforts to reestablish itself after more than a decade of civil war.
    Speaking during a joint news conference Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani in Ankara, Fidan accused the US-allied and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, of stalling the implementation of an agreement that was reached in March to merge with the Syrian army.
    Last week, representatives of Syria's various ethnic and religious groups held a conference in the northeastern Syrian city of Hassakeh — which is under the SDF's control — and called for the formation of a decentralised state and the drafting of a new constitution that guarantees religious, cultural and ethnic pluralism.
    The Syrian government criticised the meeting, and alleged that among the attendees were some with secessionist ambitions. It said that as a result it no longer intends to join planned talks with the SDF in Paris that had been agreed upon in late July. No date had yet been set for the Paris talks. (AP)
    
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)