Post-Assad Syria will never allow its territory to be used as a staging ground for threats against Turkey, its top diplomat said on January 16 after talks in Ankara. The commitment was a clear reference to Syrian Kurdish forces who,

The new administration’s first visit to Ankara comes amid an intensifying struggle for the partition of Syria between the states behind the overthrow of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by jihadists led by the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

The pro-Ankara groups succeeded in capturing Kurdish-held Manbij city and Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province, despite US-led efforts to establish a truce in the Manbij area. The fighting has continued since, with hundreds of people killed, mostly fighters.

Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration accused Turkey of killing four civilians in the Manbij area, where clashes have raged for weeks over control of a strategic dam.

Turkish Airlines will resume its flights to Damascus, Syria, next week after a halt of more than a decade, officials said Wednesday following a visit by a delegation of Syria’s new, Turkey-backed rulers.

A rightist ally of President Erdogan, Devlet Bahceli of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party, this week openly questioned Greece’s sovereignty over the islands of the southeastern Aegean. In so doing Mr. Bahceli challenges the provisions of international laws and agreements such as the 1923 Lausanne Treaty.

Turkey has offered military assistance and capacity-building support to the new Syrian military to combat “terrorist groups”, during an unprecedented visit by a high-level Syrian delegation led by the new Syrian foreign minister to Ankara on Wednesday.

On 11 January, the Syrian government reduced customs duties on goods from Arab countries by up to 60 percent, while increasing duties on Turkish imports by up to 300 percent, applying a uniform rate across all neighbouring countries. This decision has drawn criticism from Turkey’s business community.

The appointment of trustees and other attacks on democratic rights by the government show that the renewed negotiations between Ankara and the PKK, which Ankara has been trying to suppress for 40 years,

Syria’s new government has strongly condemned Israel’s incursions into a U.N.-monitored buffer zone, urging the international community to pressure Israel into withdrawing.

President Tayyip Erdogan warned on Wednesday that Turkey had the power and ability to "crush" all terrorists in Syria, including Islamic State and Kurdish militants, while urging all countries to "take their hands off" Syria.

Turkish officials will tell U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bass during talks in Ankara this week that Syria needs to be rid of terrorist groups to achieve stability and security, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Thursday.