Turkiye Stresses Need To Work With New Syria Administration
Date
12/28/2024 11:01:08 PM
(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Turkiye's foreign Minister discussed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday the need to act in cooperation with the new Syrian administration to ensure the completion of the transition period in an orderly manner, the Ministry said.
In a phone call, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Blinken that Ankara would not allow Kurdish YPG militia to take shelter in Syria, the ministry spokesperson said.
During the call, Blinken emphasised the need to support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned Political process that "upholds human rights and prioritises an inclusive and representative government," according to a statement from the US State Department.
Blinken and Fidan also discussed preventing terrorism from endangering the security of Turkey and Syria, the statement said. Meanwhile, Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.
Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar al-Assad fled the country to neighbouring Lebanon after Assad's regime was toppled on Dec 8.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organisation with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon's northern Arida crossing.
The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are "remnants" of the Assad regime.
The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.
Reuters reported on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, had flown out of Beirut to Dubai recently, as had "many members" of the Assad family.
Earlier this month, Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally.
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