Defense Minister Yaşar Güler has expressed Turkey’s willingness to provide military support to the new Syrian leadership, a statement from his ministry said on Sunday.
Turkey, a NATO member, had agreements with several other countries on military training and other assistance and would offer them to Syria if requested, Guler said.
While the Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the attack on Bashar al-Assad’s regime, is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, Ankara maintains strong ties with its leaders.
The director of Turkey’s National Intelligence Service, İbrahim Kalın, visited Damascus on Thursday. And on Saturday, Turkey reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital.
The fall of Al-Assad and flight to Moscow on December 8 have led to a major political realignment in the region, seriously eroding Russian and Iranian influence.
Turkish forces have attacked Kurdish separatists in northern Syria as Ankara seeks to expand its influence.
