Syria’s Assad Blames Türkiye’s Erdogan for Violence in Syria, Insists on Pullout of Turkish Troops

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan talks to media as he visits Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ahead of the annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) in Ankara, Türkiye August 3, 2023. (Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan talks to media as he visits Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ahead of the annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) in Ankara, Türkiye August 3, 2023. (Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters)
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Syria’s Assad Blames Türkiye’s Erdogan for Violence in Syria, Insists on Pullout of Turkish Troops

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan talks to media as he visits Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ahead of the annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) in Ankara, Türkiye August 3, 2023. (Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan talks to media as he visits Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ahead of the annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) in Ankara, Türkiye August 3, 2023. (Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters)

Syria’s President Bashar Assad slammed Türkiye in comments published Wednesday, blaming Ankara for the uptick in violence in his war-torn country and insisting on the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria.

Assad spoke in an interview with Sky News Arabia, his first interview with a foreign media outlet in months. The interview is to be fully aired later on Wednesday but Sky News Arabia released some excerpts ahead of the broadcast.

Türkiye is a main backer of armed opposition fighters who have been trying to remove Assad from power and has carried out three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016. Turkish forces control parts of northern Syria.

Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran, has managed over the past few years to retake most of the territory with the help of his allies, and turn the tide of war in his favor. Syrian insurgents and Türkiye-backed opposition forces now only hold a small northwestern corner of Syria, where fighting and violence have persisted.

“Terrorism in Syria is made in Türkiye,” Assad said.

He also denied rumors of an upcoming meeting between him and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan despite meetings between Türkiye and Syria’s defense and foreign ministers under Russian and Iranian mediation to restore strained ties.

Damascus maintains that Ankara must put forward a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria in order to normalize relations. In May, the ministers agreed to set up a “roadmap” to improve relations.

“Erdogan’s objective in meeting me is to legitimize the Turkish occupation in Syria,” Assad said in Wednesday's interview. “Why should I and Erdogan meet? To have soft drinks?”

In recent months, Syria has also improved relations with some countries that had backed the opposition since the 2011 outbreak of the country's civil war.

For the first time in over a decade, Assad participated in the Arab League summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in May, marking Syria's return to the Arab fold. However, the United States has opposed normalizations with Damascus without a political solution to the conflict.

Some Arab countries have blamed Syria for the flow of drugs into oil-rich Gulf nations since the war began. The drug trade, estimated to be worth billions, has been a priority in regional talks with Damascus.

“The countries that created chaos in Syria are responsible for the drug business,” Assad said.

Assad said that a behind-the-scenes dialogue between Damascus and Washington that started several years ago and went on sporadically “did not lead to any results.” He claimed Damascus has been able “through different means” to overcome US sanctions.

One of the main topics discussed between US and Syrian officials over the past years was the fate of Americans who went missing in Syria, including journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared in 2012.

Two US officials — including Washington's top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens — made a secret visit to Damascus some years ago to seek information on Tice and other missing Americans. It was the highest-level US talks in years with Assad's government, though Syrian officials offered no meaningful information on Tice.

Syria’s war has killed half a million people, wounded over a million, left large parts of the nation destroyed and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. The fighting has mostly stalemated in the past years.

More than 5 million Syrians are refugees mostly in neighboring countries, Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan.

“We knew since the start of the war that it is going to be long,” Assad said.



UN Humanitarian Chief Urges Massive Aid Boost for Syria

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP
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UN Humanitarian Chief Urges Massive Aid Boost for Syria

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher (R) said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground. SANA/AFP

Visiting UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher called Wednesday for a massive aid boost for Syria to respond to "this moment of hope" after the ouster of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.
"Across the country, the needs are huge. Seven in 10 people are needing support right now," Fletcher told AFP in a telephone interview as he visited Syria.
"I want to scale up massively international support, but that now depends on donors. The Syria fund has been historically, shamefully underfunded and now there is this opportunity," he said.
"The Syrian people are trying to come home when it's safe to do so, to rebuild their country, to rebuild their communities and their lives.
"We have to get behind them and to respond to this moment of hope. And if we don't do that quickly, then I fear that this window will close."
Half of Syria's population were forced from their homes during nearly 14 years of civil war, with millions finding refuge abroad.
UN officials have said a $4 billion appeal for Syria aid is less than a third funded.
"There are massive humanitarian needs... water, food, shelter... There are needs in terms of government services, health, education, and then there are longer term rebuilding needs, development needs," Fletcher said.
"We've got to be ambitious in our ask of donors.
"The Syrian people demand that we deliver, and they're right to demand that we deliver," he said. "The world hasn't delivered for the Syrian people for more than a decade."
'Test for all'
As part of his visit, Fletcher met representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the opposition group which spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad, including its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and interim prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir.
Fletcher said he received "the strongest possible reassurances" from Syria's new administration that aid workers would have the necessary access on the ground.
"We need unhindered, unfettered access to the people that we're here to serve. We need the crossings open so we can get massive amounts of aid through... We need to ensure that humanitarian workers can go where they need to go without restriction, with protection," he said.
"I received the strongest possible reassurances from the top of that caretaker administration that they will give us that support that we need. Let's test that now in the period ahead."
Assad's government had long imposed restrictions on humanitarian organizations and on aid distribution in areas of the country outside its control.
Fletcher said that the coming period would be "a test for the UN, which hasn't been able to deliver what we wanted to over a decade now... Can we scale up? Can we gain people's trust?
"But it's also a test for the new administration," he added. "Can they guarantee us a more permissive environment than we had under the Assad regime?
"I believe that we can work in that partnership, but it's a huge test for all of us."