Turkiye and Israel face mounting tensions over future of post-Assad Syria

Turkiye and Israel face mounting tensions over future of post-Assad Syria
Dozens of Syrian Druze clerics crossed the armistice line on the Golan Heights into Israel on Fon March 14 for their community’s first pilgrimage to the revered shrine in decades. (AFP)
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Updated 15 March 2025
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Turkiye and Israel face mounting tensions over future of post-Assad Syria

Turkiye and Israel face mounting tensions over future of post-Assad Syria
  • Turkiye, which long backed groups opposed to Assad, has emerged as a key player in Syria and is advocating for a stable and united Syria
  • Israel on the other hand, remains deeply suspicious of Syria’s interim government and Turkiye’s influence over Damascus

ANKARA: The fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government has aggravated already tense relations between Turkiye and Israel, with their conflicting interests in Syria pushing the relationship toward a possible collision course.
Turkiye, which long backed groups opposed to Assad, has emerged as a key player in Syria and is advocating for a stable and united Syria, in which a central government maintains authority over the whole country.
It welcomed a breakthrough agreement that Syria’s new interim government signed this week with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, to integrate with the Syrian government and army.
Israel, on the other hand, remains deeply suspicious of Syria’s interim president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, pointing to his roots in Al-Qaeda. It’s also wary of Turkiye’s influence over Damascus and appears to want to see Syria remain fragmented after the country under Assad was turned into a staging ground for its archenemy, Iran, and Tehran’s proxies.
“Syria has become a theater for proxy warfare between Turkiye and Israel, which clearly see each other as regional competitors,” said Asli Aydintasbas, of the Washington-based Brookings Institute.
“This is a very dangerous dynamic because in all different aspects of Syria’s transition, there is a clash of Turkish and Israeli positions.”
Following Assad’s fall, Israel seized territory in southern Syria, which Israeli officials said was aimed at keeping hostile groups away from its border. The new Syrian government and the United Nations have said Israel’s incursions violate a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries and have called for Israel to withdraw. Israel has also conducted airstrikes targeting military assets left behind by Assad’s forces and has expressed plans to maintain a long-term presence in the region.
Analysts say Israel is concerned over the possibility of Turkiye expanding its military presence inside Syria. Since 2016, Turkiye has launched operations in northern Syria to push back Syrian Kurdish militias linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and maintains influence in the north of the country through military bases and alliances with groups that opposed Assad.
Turkish defense officials have said Turkiye and Syria are now cooperating to strengthen the country’s defense and security, and that a military delegation will visit Syria next week.
Nimrod Goren, president of the Mitvim Institute, an Israeli foreign policy think tank, said that unlike Turkiye, which supports a strong, centralized and stable Syria, Israel at the moment appears to prefer Syria fragmented, with the belief that could better bolster Israel’s security.
He said Israel is concerned about Al-Sharaa and his Islamist ties, and fears that his consolidated strength could pose what Israel has called a “jihadist threat” along its northern border.
Israeli officials say they will not tolerate a Syrian military presence south of Damascus and have threatened to invade a Damascus suburb in defense of members of the Druze minority sect, who live in both Israel and Syria, after short-lived clashes broke out between the new Syrian security forces and Druze armed factions. The distance from Damascus to the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights is about 60 kilometers (37 miles.)
Turkiye and Israel once were close allies, but the relationship has been marked by deep tensions under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more than two-decade rule, despite brief periods of reconciliation. Erdogan is an outspoken critic of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, while Israel has been angered by Erdogan’s support for the Hamas militant group, which Israel considers to be a terrorist group.
Following the war in Gaza, Turkiye strongly denounced Israel’s military actions, announced it was cutting trade ties with Israel, and joined a genocide case South Africa brought against Israel at the UN International Court of Justice.
Aydintasbas said Turkish authorities are now increasingly concerned that Israel is “supportive of autonomy demands from Kurds, the Druze and Alawites.”
Erdogan issued a thinly veiled threat against Israel last week, saying: “Those who seek to provoke ethnic and religious (divisions) in Syria to exploit instability in the country should know that they will not be able to achieve their goals.”
Last week, factions allied with the new Syrian government — allegedly including some backed by Turkiye — launched revenge attacks on members of Assad’s Alawite minority sect after pro-Assad groups attacked government security forces on Syria’s coast. Monitoring groups said hundreds of civilians were killed.
Erdogan strongly condemned the violence and suggested the attacks were aimed at “Syria’s territorial integrity and social stability.”
Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, said the deadly sectarian violence amounted to “ethnic cleansing” by Islamist groups led by “a jihadist Islamist terror group that took Damascus by force and was supported by Turkiye.”
Israel, Haskel added, was working to prevent a threat along its border from Syria’s new “jihadist regime.”
Israel’s involvement in Syria is deepening, with the country pledging protection and economic aid to the Druze community in southern Syria at a time of heightened sectarian tensions.
The Druze, a small religious sect, are caught between Syria’s new Islamist-led government in Damascus and Israel, which many Syrians view as a hostile neighbor leveraging the Druze’s plight to justify its intervention in the region. Israel says it sent food aid trucks to the Druze in southern Syria and is allowing some Syrian Druze to cross into the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights to work.
Al-Sharaa was somewhat conciliatory toward Israel in his early statements, saying that he didn’t seek a conflict. But his language has become stronger. In a speech at a recent Arab League emergency meeting in Cairo, he said that Israel’s “aggressive expansion is not only a violation of Syrian sovereignty, but a direct threat to security and peace in the entire region.”
The Brookings Institute’s Aydintasbas said the escalating tensions are cause for serious concern.
“Before we used to have Israel and Turkiye occasionally engage in spats, but be able to decouple their security relationship from everything else,” Aydintasbas said. “But right now, they are actively trying to undermine each other. The question is, do these countries know each other’s red lines?”
A report from the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank led by a former Israeli military intelligence chief, suggested that Israel could benefit from engaging with Turkiye, the one regional power with considerable influence over Syria’s leadership, to reduce the risk of military conflict between Israel and Syria.


After protests, Erdogan says Turkiye ‘won’t surrender to street terror’

After protests, Erdogan says Turkiye ‘won’t surrender to street terror’
Updated 4 sec ago
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After protests, Erdogan says Turkiye ‘won’t surrender to street terror’

After protests, Erdogan says Turkiye ‘won’t surrender to street terror’
“Turkiye will not surrender to street terror,” Erdogan said

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkiye would not be cowed by “street terror” after days of widespread protests over the detention of Istanbul’s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.
“Turkiye will not surrender to street terror,” Erdogan said, as the main opposition CHP called for nationwide protests later on Friday.

Hamas studying US ‘bridge’ proposal on ceasefire as Israel escalates return to war

Hamas studying US ‘bridge’ proposal on ceasefire as Israel escalates return to war
Updated 2 min 52 sec ago
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Hamas studying US ‘bridge’ proposal on ceasefire as Israel escalates return to war

Hamas studying US ‘bridge’ proposal on ceasefire as Israel escalates return to war
  • A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters Egypt had also put forward a bridging proposal, but Hamas had yet to respond
  • The official declined to provide details on the proposal, which he said was under consideration

CAIRO/DUBAI: Hamas said on Friday it was reviewing a US proposal to restore the Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensified military operations in the enclave to press the Palestinian militant group into freeing remaining Israeli hostages.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s “bridge” plan, presented last week, aims to extend the ceasefire into April, beyond Ramadan and Passover, to allow time for negotiations on a permanent cessation of hostilities.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military was ramping up air, land and sea strikes and would also evacuate civilians to the southern part of Gaza, speaking three days after Israel effectively abandoned the two-month-old truce.
Katz emphasized that Israel would continue its campaign until Hamas released further hostages and was totally defeated.
However, while Israel inflicted serious damage on Hamas with airstrikes this week that killed its Gaza government chief and other top officials, Palestinian and Israeli sources say Hamas has shown it can absorb major losses and still fight and govern.
Hamas said it was still debating Witkoff’s proposal and other ideas, with the goal of reaching a deal on prisoner releases, ending the war, and securing a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters Egypt had also put forward a bridging proposal, but Hamas had yet to respond. The official declined to provide details on the proposal, which he said was under consideration.
Two Egyptian security sources said Egypt suggested putting a timeline into place for releasing the rest of the hostages alongside a deadline for a full Israeli pullout from Gaza with US guarantees.
The sources said the US had signalled initial approval of the plan while Hamas and Israel’s responses were expected later on Friday.
A temporary, first phase of the truce ended at the start of this month, but Israel and Hamas could not overcome differences over terms for launching the second phase. Hamas held up further hostage releases and Israeli military action then resumed.
After two months of relative calm, Gazans were again fleeing for their lives after Israel launched a new, all-out air and ground campaign against Hamas on Tuesday, after again halting all aid deliveries into the narrow coastal enclave.
Katz warned that Hamas would lose more territory the longer it kept refusing to free remaining hostages. Of the more than 250 originally seized in Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel, 59 remain in Gaza, 24 of whom are thought to be alive.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS WORSENING
Tuesday’s first day of renewed Israeli airstrikes killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the deadliest days of the 17-month-old war.
On Friday, five people including three children were killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a house in the Tuffah district of Gaza City in the enclave’s north, while two people — a woman and her daughter — were killed by tank fire in Abassan near Khan Younis in the south, according to Palestinian medics.
The United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, one of the largest providers of food aid in Gaza, warned on Friday it only had enough flour to distribute for the next six days.
“We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days, not weeks,” UNRWA official Sam Rose told reporters in Geneva in an online briefing from central Gaza.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza was once again alarming due to massive reductions in distribution of aid, UNRWA said.
“Six of 25 bakeries that the World Food Programme were supporting had to close down. There are larger crowds on streets outside bakeries,” Rose added.
“This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed,” Rose added.
Israel’s blockage has led to a hike in prices of essential foods as well as of fuel, forcing many to ration their meals.
The war began after Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 49,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s health authorities, with much of the densely populated territory reduced to rubble.


Israel intensifying Gaza strikes to press Hamas into freeing hostages, defense minister says

Israel intensifying Gaza strikes to press Hamas into freeing hostages, defense minister says
Updated 21 March 2025
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Israel intensifying Gaza strikes to press Hamas into freeing hostages, defense minister says

Israel intensifying Gaza strikes to press Hamas into freeing hostages, defense minister says
  • US envoy Steve Witkoff last week a ‘bridge’ plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday the army was intensifying strikes from the air, land and sea in Gaza to pressure Hamas into freeing remaining hostages, and would also evacuate civilians to the south of the enclave.

After two months of relative calm, Gazans were again fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign against Gaza’s dominant Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Hamas said on Friday it is still discussing US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal and various other ideas, with the aim of reaching a deal to release prisoners, end the war in Gaza, and achieve a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave.

Witkoff presented last week a “bridge” plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Katz said the more Hamas continued to refuse to release the remaining Israeli hostages, the more territory it would lose to Israel.

He said the military would step up strikes from the air, sea and land and expand ground operations until the hostages are released and Hamas was finally defeated.

With talks having failed to bridge differences over terms to extend the ceasefire, the Israeli military resumed assaults on Gaza with a massive bombing campaign on Tuesday before sending in troops the day after.

Tuesday’s first day of resumed airstrikes killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the deadliest days of the 17-month-old war, with scant let-up since then.


Six days of flour left to distribute in Gaza – UNRWA

Six days of flour left to distribute in Gaza – UNRWA
Updated 21 March 2025
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Six days of flour left to distribute in Gaza – UNRWA

Six days of flour left to distribute in Gaza – UNRWA
  • ‘We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days not weeks’
  • ‘This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza’

GENEVA: One of the largest providers of food aid in Gaza warned on Friday it only has enough flour to distribute for the next six days.

“We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days not weeks,” Sam Rose from the United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency UNRWA told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Central Gaza.

The situation in Gaza is gravely concerning with massive reductions in distribution of aid supplies, UNRWA said.

“Six of 25 bakeries that the World Food Programme were supporting had to close down. There are larger crowds on streets outside bakeries,” Rose added.

“This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed,” Rose added.

Israel in early March blocked the entry of goods into the territory in a standoff over a truce that has halted fighting for the past seven weeks. The move has led to a hike in prices of essential foods as well as of fuel, forcing many to ration their meals.


Sudan army says it has control of presidential palace in Khartoum

Sudan army says it has control of presidential palace in Khartoum
Updated 21 min 27 sec ago
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Sudan army says it has control of presidential palace in Khartoum

Sudan army says it has control of presidential palace in Khartoum
  • The army shared videos of soldiers cheering on the palace grounds, its glass windows shattered and walls pockmarked with bullet holes
  • Images showed the cladding of the recently constructed palace torn off by explosions

DUBAI/CAIRO: The Sudanese army seized full control of the presidential palace in downtown Khartoum on Friday, it said in a statement, in what would be a major gain in a two-year-old conflict with a rival armed group that has threatened to partition the country.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said hours later that it remained in the vicinity of the palace, and that it had launched an attack that had killed dozens of army soldiers inside.
Army sources said the fighters were about 400 meters away. They said the army’s forces had suffered a drone attack that killed several soldiers as well as three journalists from state television.
The army had long been on the back foot but has recently been making gains and has retaken territory from the RSF in the center of the country.
Meanwhile the RSF has consolidated control in the west, hardening battle lines and moving the country toward de facto partition. The RSF is working to set up a parallel government in areas it controls, although that is not expected to receive widespread international recognition.
The RSF rapidly seized the presidential palace in Khartoum, along with the rest of the city, after war broke out in April 2023 over the paramilitary’s integration into the armed forces.
The army shared videos of soldiers cheering on the palace grounds, its glass windows shattered and walls pockmarked with bullet holes. Images showed the cladding of the recently constructed palace torn off by explosions.
Many Sudanese welcomed the army’s statement that it had control of the palace.
“The liberation of the palace is the best news I’ve heard since the start of the war, because it means the start of the army controlling the rest of Khartoum,” said 55-year-old Khartoum resident Mohamed Ibrahim.
“We want to be safe again and live without fear or hunger,” he said.
Late on Thursday the RSF said it had seized a key base from the army in North Darfur, a region in the west of the country.
The conflict has led to what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, spreading famine in several locations and disease across the country of 50 million people.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes, while the RSF has also been charged with genocide. Both sides deny the charges.
GUNFIRE IN KHARTOUM
Intermittent gunfire was heard in Khartoum on Friday and bloody fighting was expected as the army seeks to corner the RSF, which still occupies swathes of the territory to the south of the palace.
“We are moving forward along all fighting axes until victory is complete by cleansing every inch of our country from the filth of this militia and its collaborators,” the army statement said.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, had instructed troops earlier this week to maintain control at the palace.
Although the RSF still has positions in Khartoum, its foothold there is more tenuous than at any point since the conflict began and the trajectory suggests the RSF will be pushed out completely, said Ahmed Soliman, senior research fellow at Chatham House.
The army is likely to continue the war in the west, he added, leaving Sudan facing “a contested, partitioned reality.”
The war erupted two years ago as the country was planning a transition to democratic rule.
The army and RSF had joined forces after ousting Omar Al-Bashir from power in 2019 and later to oust civilian leadership.
But they had long been at odds, as Bashir developed Hemedti and the RSF, which has its roots in Darfur’s janjaweed militias, as a counterweight to the army, led by career officer Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.