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Time Limit of Few Weeks to Dissolve HTS in Syria’s Idlib

Syrian fighters attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province and the surrounding countryside, during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) members at a camp. AFP
Syrian fighters attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province and the surrounding countryside, during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) members at a camp. AFP
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Time Limit of Few Weeks to Dissolve HTS in Syria’s Idlib

Syrian fighters attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province and the surrounding countryside, during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) members at a camp. AFP
Syrian fighters attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province and the surrounding countryside, during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) members at a camp. AFP

Pressure exerted by western countries and Turkey on Russia seems to have deferred a looming offensive by the Moscow-backed Syrian regime on the province of Idlib and allowed Ankara to dissolve Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham HTS within weeks.

Turkey fears that a wide-range regime attack on Idlib, which has a population of 3 million people, could cause a new wave of exodus towards its territories.

Media reports said Friday that Ankara has sent reinforcements, especially armored vehicles, to the border with Syria and to observations points it has lately established in the north of the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet next Monday in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi to review the situation in Idlib.

"I believe an offensive, if there will be one, will not come before several weeks," a senior Turkish official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Erdogan had met with Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on September 7 to discuss Syria and prevent regime forces from attacking Idlib.

However, Erdogan and Putin failed to agree on the main strategy to solve the crisis in the province.

Ankara fiercely opposes a military option in the northwest of its neighboring country.

Meanwhile, UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura met Friday with the so-called "small group" of allied nations, including members from Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

The meeting came two days following similar talks held between the UN envoy and representatives from the there guarantor countries - Russia, Turkey and Iran.

De Mistura is expected to inform the UN Security Council next Tuesday about the results of his latest talks with parties concerned with the Syrian crisis.

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Arab World

Turkish Foreign Minister Says No Room for Kurdish Militants in Syria's Future

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) and Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R), also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, shaking hands during their meeting in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024. EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) and Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R), also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, shaking hands during their meeting in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024. EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE
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Turkish Foreign Minister Says No Room for Kurdish Militants in Syria's Future

A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) and Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R), also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, shaking hands during their meeting in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024. EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE
A handout photo made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (L) and Syria's opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R), also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, shaking hands during their meeting in Damascus, Syria, 22 December 2024. EPA/TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE

Türkiye’s foreign minister said after meeting Syria's de facto leader in Damascus on Sunday that there was no room for Kurdish militants in Syria's future, calling for the YPG militia to disband.
Türkiye regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.
Sunday's visit to Damascus by Hakan Fidan, the first foreign minister to visit Damascus since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow two weeks ago, came amid hostilities in northeast Syria between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and the YPG, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast.
Speaking alongside Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Fidan said he had discussed the YPG presence with the new Syrian administration and believed Damascus would take steps to ensure Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
"In the coming period, the YPG must come to a point where it is no longer a threat to Syria's national unity," Fidan said, adding the YPG should disband.
The SDF played a key role defeating ISIS militants in 2014-2017 with US air support, and still guards ISIS fighters in prison camps. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the group would try to re-establish capabilities in this period.
Fidan said the international community was "turning a blind eye" to the "illegality" of the SDF and YPG's actions in Syria, but added that he believed US President-elect Donald Trump would take a different approach.
He said the new Syrian administration had told him during their talks that they could manage the ISIS prison camps, if needed.
In a Reuters interview on Thursday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle ISIS and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Türkiye. He denied any organizational ties with the PKK.
The SDF has been on the back foot since Assad's fall, with the threat of advances from Ankara and Türkiye-backed groups as it looks to preserve political gains made in the last 13 years, and with Syria's new rulers being friendly to Ankara.
Earlier, Türkiye's defense minister said Ankara believed Syria's new leadership, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive YPG fighters from all of the territory they occupy in the northeast.
Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the Kurdish faction in northern Syria and controls swathes of Syrian territory along the border, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington halt support for the Kurdish fighters.
Ankara had for years backed opposition groups looking to oust Assad and welcomed the end of his family's brutal five-decade rule after a 13-year civil war. Türkiye also hosts millions of Syrian migrants it hopes will start returning home after Assad's fall, and has vowed to help rebuild Syria.
Fidan said all international sanctions imposed against Assad must be lifted as soon as possible to help Syria start rebuilding, offering Ankara's assistance on matters such as infrastructure development.
Sharaa told Sunday's press conference his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.