Erdogan-Assad Meeting to Be Held Next Month, Turkish Sources

Meeting of Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (AP)
Meeting of Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (AP)
TT

Erdogan-Assad Meeting to Be Held Next Month, Turkish Sources

Meeting of Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (AP)
Meeting of Bashar Assad and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Damascus in May 2008 (AP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, could meet at the Kasab border crossing next month, the pro-government Türkiye newspaper reported on Saturday.

Russian Foreign Intelligence Chief Sergey Naryshkin and chief of Turkish intelligence Ibrahim Kalin agreed on the plan during a meeting they held in Ankara a few days ago, the newspaper said citing sources familiar with the issue.

Intelligence authorities involved in the potential rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus also held three meetings last June to prepare for the Erdogan-Assad talks, it said.

The Kasab border crossing hosted a meeting of Turkish and Syrian intelligence officials about three years ago when Russia triggered the normalization process between Ankara and Damascus.

The Türkiye newspaper, citing its sources, said Erdogan and Assad were initially supposed to meet in Baghdad, but Ankara is now considering the option of holding the summit at the Kasab crossing.

It added that following talks between Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last Wednesday, reports said the Assad-Erdogan meeting could be held in Moscow. But diplomatic sources were quick to deny it.

Last Tuesday, Türkiye’s Daily Sabah newspaper said Erdogan will meet Assad in Moscow next month, but a Turkish diplomatic source refuted the reports.

Spokesman for Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party Omer Celik said last Tuesday that preparation is underway for the Erdogan-Assad meeting.

Speaking after a meeting of the Party chaired by Erdogan, he said the Turkish and Syrian intelligence services held meetings at different times to prepare the necessary dossier related to the Ankara-Damascus relations.

Celik explained that the Turkish Foreign and Defense ministries will then provide their recommendations based on this preparation.

Following this stage, the file will be presented to the Turkish and Syrian Presidents, and Erdogan will then invite Assad to meet.

Turkish media reported that a plane carrying Naryshkin arrived at Ankara Esenboga International Airport last Wednesday, coinciding with the Putin-Assad meeting in Moscow.

Security experts said a Special Flight Detachment aircraft, thought to be carrying Naryshkin, traveled from Moscow to Ankara.

The Türkiye newspaper said the meeting held between Kalin and Naryshkin was decisive in determining the date and place of Erdogan and Assad’s meeting.

Türkiye severed ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, in which it supported the opposition looking to oust Assad. The Syrian leader views opposition fighters as terrorists.



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.