Turkey Warns Against Disturbing North Syria’s Fragile Balance

Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT

Turkey Warns Against Disturbing North Syria’s Fragile Balance

Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Smoke billows after an attack on the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Turkey has warned that targeting civilians and harming stability in Syria prevents a lasting solution to the conflict in the war-torn country.

Turkey’s National Security Council stressed that targeting civilians would harm stability in Syria and disturb the “fragile balance” in the region.

In a statement on Thursday, the Council highlighted the responsibility of actors and parties involved in the Syrian conflict to achieve peace, stability and prosperity for Syrians.

Meanwhile, developments in opposition-held Idlib province indicated that there was no significant change in the situation following the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday.

The two presidents held talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi and discussed curbing renewed violence in northwest Syria.

They agreed to abide by the previous agreements and understandings, whether on Idlib or northeast Syria.

Erdogan said a roadmap to achieve stability in Idlib is being prepared between both countries’ defense and foreign affairs ministers.

Military escalation resumed on Friday in the de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria after hours of calm in Idlib.

Russian warplanes resumed their aerial bombardment in al-Ziyyarah towns in Sahl al-Ghab in the northwestern countryside of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.



Trump’s Middle East Envoy Meets Netanyahu amid Ceasefire Push

 President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
TT

Trump’s Middle East Envoy Meets Netanyahu amid Ceasefire Push

 President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump listens as Steve Witkoff speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday amid a push to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu's office said.

After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation which included the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency to Qatar in order to "advance" talks to return hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.

The mediators are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. A deal would also involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Families of Israeli hostages welcomed Netanyahu's decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as a "historic opportunity."

Witkoff arrived in Doha on Friday and met the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators received reassurances from Witkoff that the US would continue to work towards a fair deal to end the war soon, Egyptian security sources said, though he did not give any details.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its population displaced.

On Saturday, the Palestinian civil emergency service said eight people were killed, including two women and two children, in an Israeli airstrike on a former school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said the strike had targeted Hamas fighters who were operating at the school and that it had taken measures to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.

Later on Saturday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said five people were killed and several others were wounded in two Israeli strikes. One of the two strikes killed three people in a house near the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas fighter "in that area" at that approximate time.