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)
TT
20

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.



Lebanon's Salam Calls for 'Full Israeli Withdrawal' while Visiting Border Areas

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
TT
20

Lebanon's Salam Calls for 'Full Israeli Withdrawal' while Visiting Border Areas

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam checks a map surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers as he visits the sourthern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Lebanon’s new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, used a tour on Friday of areas near the border with Israel that suffered wide destruction during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war to call for an Israeli withdrawal and promised residents of border villages a safe return to their homes and reconstruction.
Salam's visit came two days after his government won a vote of confidence in parliament.
“This is the first real working day of the government. We salute the army and its martyrs,” Salam said in the southern port city of Tyre while meeting residents of the border village of Dheira. “We promise you a safe return to your homes as soon as possible.”
The government is committed to the reconstruction of destroyed homes, which “is not a promise but a personal commitment by myself and the government,” Salam added.
Israel withdrew its troops from much of the border area earlier this month, but left five outlooking posts inside Lebanon, in what Lebanese officials called a violation of the US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on Nov. 27, ending the war.
Salam said his government is gathering Arab and international support in order “to force the enemy to withdraw from our occupied lands and the so-called five points.”
“There is no real and lasting stability without full Israeli withdrawal,” he said.
During his tour, Salam -- who also visited the southern cities of Marjayoun and Nabatiyeh — praised the UN peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL.
In mid-February, UNIFIL’s outgoing deputy commander was injured when Hezbollah-linked protesters attacked a convoy taking peacekeepers to the Beirut airport.
On Friday, three judicial officials told The Associated Press that 26 people have been charged in the attack on UNIFIL, including five who are in detention and the rest remain at large.
The officials said 26 have were charged late Thursday by the Military Court’s Government Commissioner Judge Fadi Akiki with terrorism, undermining state authority, robbery and forming a gang to carry out evil acts. The judicial officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said those charged could get up to life in prison.
The officials also said that a bag was stolen from UNIFIL’s convoy that had about $30,000 in cash and that the money is still missing.