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Turkey Says Ties with Israel Help Ease Palestinian Conflict

25 May 2022, Israel, Jerusalem: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks to media after his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum. (dpa)
25 May 2022, Israel, Jerusalem: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks to media after his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum. (dpa)
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Turkey Says Ties with Israel Help Ease Palestinian Conflict

25 May 2022, Israel, Jerusalem: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks to media after his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum. (dpa)
25 May 2022, Israel, Jerusalem: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks to media after his visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum. (dpa)

Turkey’s foreign minister said Wednesday that normalizing ties with Israel will help efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in Jerusalem as part of the first visit by a senior Turkish official to Israel in 15 years. The trip comes as Israel and Turkey have worked to reset their relations after years of strained ties.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart, Cavusoglu said that "working on a positive agenda can also help us to address our disagreements in a more constructive manner." Communications between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart helped calm tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem during Ramadan, he added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that the two countries "have always known how to return to dialogue and cooperation."

"Nations with long histories always know how to close one chapter and open a new one. That is what we are doing here today," he said.

Cavusoglu’s visit to Jerusalem followed a series of high level meetings with Palestinian officials in Ramallah, where he stated Turkey’s commitment to the Palestinians and their independence. The Turkish foreign minister said that he discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with both parties, and "we believe that the two-state solution with UN parameters is only the solution for a durable peace."

"We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on peaceful resolution of the conflict," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday Cavusoglu visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, and was to pay a private visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Turkey and Israel were close allies, but relations grew tense under Erdogan, who is a vocal critic of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. The countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2010 after Israeli forces stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians that broke an Israeli-Egyptian blockade. The incident resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists.

Turkey recalled its ambassador in 2018 after the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, prompting Israel to respond in kind. The two countries have not reappointed their ambassadors.

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Arab World

Syria Moves Military Reinforcements East of Aleppo After Telling Kurds to Withdraw

Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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Syria Moves Military Reinforcements East of Aleppo After Telling Kurds to Withdraw

Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Military vehicles drive along a road as the last Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters left the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, state-run Ekhbariya TV said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes, in Latakia, Syria, January 14, 2026. (Reuters)

Syria's army was moving reinforcements east of Aleppo city on Wednesday, a day after it told Kurdish forces to withdraw from the area following deadly clashes last week.

The deployment comes as Syria's government seeks to extend its authority across the country, but progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached in March.

The United States, which for years has supported Kurdish fighters but also backs Syria's new authorities, urged all parties to "avoid actions that could further escalate tensions" in a statement by the US military's Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper.

On Tuesday, Syrian state television published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a "closed military zone" and said "all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates" River.

The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometers further east, as well as towards the south.

State news agency SANA published images on Wednesday showing military reinforcements en route from the coastal province of Latakia, while a military source on the ground, requesting anonymity, said reinforcements were arriving from both Latakia and the Damascus region.

Both sides reported limited skirmishes overnight.

An AFP correspondent on the outskirts of Deir Hafer reported hearing intermittent artillery shelling on Wednesday, which the military source said was due to government targeting of positions belonging to the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

- 'Declaration of war' -

The SDF controls swathes of the country's oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria's civil war and the fight against the ISIS group.

On Monday, Syria accused the SDF of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it would send its own personnel there in response.

Kurdish forces on Tuesday denied any build-up of their personnel and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person.

Cooper urged "a durable diplomatic resolution through dialogue".

Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration, said that government forces were "preparing themselves for another attack".

"The real intention is a full-scale attack" against Kurdish-held areas, she told an online press conference, accusing the government of having made a "declaration of war" and breaking the March agreement on integrating Kurdish forces.

Syria's government took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing its Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Achrafieh neighborhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast.

Both sides traded blame over who started the violence last week that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.

- PKK, Türkiye -

On Tuesday in Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country's northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence, while shops were shut in a general strike.

Some protesters carried Kurdish flags and banners in support of the SDF.

"This government has not honored its commitments towards any Syrians," said cafe owner Joudi Ali.

Other protesters burned portraits of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has lauded the Syrian government's Aleppo operation "against terrorist organizations".

Türkiye has long been hostile to the SDF, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a major threat along its southern border.

Last year, the PKK announced an end to its long-running armed struggle against the Turkish state and began destroying its weapons, but Ankara has insisted that the move include armed Kurdish groups in Syria.

On Tuesday, the PKK called the "attack on the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo" an attempt to sabotage peace efforts between it and Ankara.

A day earlier, Ankara's ruling party levelled the same accusation against Kurdish fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 45 civilians and 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides killed in the Aleppo violence.

Arab World

Lebanon Says France to Host Conference to Support Army

French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
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Lebanon Says France to Host Conference to Support Army

French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
French Special Presidential Envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian looks on during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (not pictured) at the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 14 January 2026. (EPA)

Lebanon said Wednesday that a conference in support of the country's army as it seeks to disarm Hezbollah would take place in Paris on March 5.

The announcement follows recent promises of support to the military, which lacks funds, equipment and technical expertise.

Presidency spokeswoman Najat Charafeddine said President Joseph Aoun met French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan and ambassadors including from the US, Egypt and Qatar, discussing preparations for "a conference to support the Lebanese army and internal security forces".

"It was decided to hold the conference in Paris on March 5, to be opened by French President Emmanuel Macron," she said at the presidential palace.

Under US pressure and fearing expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which was badly weakened in more than a year of hostilities with Israel that largely ended in late 2024.

Last week, Lebanon's army said it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm the group, covering the area south of the Litani river, around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border.

A plan for the disarmament north of the Litani is to be presented to cabinet next month.
Israel, which accuses Hezbollah or rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Lebanon's army has dismantled tunnels and other military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah near the Israeli border in recent months, seizing weapons and ammunition, despite its limited capacities.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah, and has maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.

Last month, talks with international envoys in Paris touched on the Lebanese army's needs, while its chief agreed to document its progress in disarming Hezbollah.

Arab World

Iraqi Officials Arrest Man Wanted by Australian Police as 'Number One Priority'

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)
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Iraqi Officials Arrest Man Wanted by Australian Police as 'Number One Priority'

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security. (Getty Images file)

Iraqi officials have arrested a man wanted by Australian Federal Police as a person of interest in ​the investigation into a spate of firebombings, including an antisemitic attack on a Melbourne synagogue, police said on Wednesday.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrested man, Kazem Hamad, was a threat to national security and that she had identified ‌him as her "Number ‌One priority".

Iraq's National ‌Center ⁠for ​International ‌Judicial Cooperation said in a statement that Kadhim Malik Hamad Rabah al-Hajami had been arrested as part of a drugs investigation, after a request from Australia.

Barrett said Iraqi officials had made an independent decision to arrest the man ⁠in their own criminal investigation, after Australian Federal Police provided ‌information to Iraqi law enforcement ‍late last year.

"This ‍arrest is a significant disruption to an ‍alleged serious criminal and his alleged criminal enterprise in Australia," she said in a statement.

In October, Barrett said that in addition to being a ​suspect in arson attacks in Australia linked to the tobacco trade, the man ⁠was "a person of interest in the investigation into the alleged politically-motivated arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue" in Melbourne.

Australia expelled Iran's ambassador in August after the Australian Security Intelligence Organization traced the funding of hooded criminals who allegedly set fire to the Melbourne synagogue in December 2024 to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Hamad, previously convicted in Australia for drug trafficking ‌offences, was deported from Australia to Iraq in 2023.