Erdogan: Turkish Intelligence Contacts with Damascus will Determine 'Ties Roadmap'

 An international humanitarian aid convoy heads to Idlib governorate on September 17, 2022. (AFP)
An international humanitarian aid convoy heads to Idlib governorate on September 17, 2022. (AFP)
TT

Erdogan: Turkish Intelligence Contacts with Damascus will Determine 'Ties Roadmap'

 An international humanitarian aid convoy heads to Idlib governorate on September 17, 2022. (AFP)
An international humanitarian aid convoy heads to Idlib governorate on September 17, 2022. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country’s contacts with the Syrian regime were currently limited to the intelligence service, based on which Türkiye would set the road map for its relations with Damascus.

Erdogan repeated the threat of a military operation in northern Syria, calling on Russia and the United States to implement the understandings signed with his country in 2019, which stipulate clearing the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, the largest component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), from within 30 km (19 miles) of its border.

In a television interview on Wednesday evening, Erdogan said that the Turkish intelligence service was holding talks in Damascus, based on which Türkiye would determine its road map.

Turkish and Western reports said that the head of the Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, held a series of talks with the head of the Syrian National Security Office, Ali Mamlouk, in Damascus, following similar meetings in Moscow and Tehran.

Turkish media stated that the meetings discussed the conditions offered by both sides, and the means to draw up a “road map for the safe return of Syrians in Türkiye to their country.”

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said last week that there were currently no plans to conduct contacts at the political or diplomatic level with the Syrian regime.

For his part, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad told Russian Sputnik agency that no communication was taking place at the level of the two foreign ministries. He added that his country considered the Astana process as the only path for a political solution.

Meanwhile, Erdogan renewed his threat to launch a Turkish military operation in northern Syria, which he had previously announced in May, saying that it would include SDF positions in Manbij and Tal Rifaat.

He stressed the need for the SDF to withdraw 30 kilometers south of the Turkish border, in line with the understandings with Russia and the United States, based on which Türkiye halted the Spring of Peace military operation in October 2019.



Lebanese Govt. to Seek New IMF Program, Policy Statement Says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
TT

Lebanese Govt. to Seek New IMF Program, Policy Statement Says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo

Lebanon's new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new program and will work to deal with the country's financial default and public debt, according to a policy statement approved by the cabinet late on Monday.

The statement, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, said the government would work for an economical revival that could only be achieved through restructuring the banking sector.

Lebanon has been in deep economic crisis since 2019, when its financial system collapsed under the weight of massive state debts, prompting a sovereign default in 2020 and freezing ordinary depositors out of their savings in the banking system.

Beirut reached a draft funding deal with IMF in 2022 - contingent on reforms that authorities failed to deliver.

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, who took office as part of a new government agreed earlier this month, told Reuters an IMF mission is expected to visit Lebanon in March.

Jaber said he had met the IMF's resident representative in Lebanon, Frederico Lima, and confirmed that the government plans to move ahead with reforms.

Lebanon's political landscape has been turned on its head since the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, long a dominant player in Lebanese politics, was badly pummelled in last year's war with Israel.

Reflecting the shift in the power balance, the government policy statement did not include language used in previous years that was seen to legitimize a role for Hezbollah in defending Lebanon, saying instead "we want a state that has the decision of war and peace".

The statement said it was required to adopt a national security strategy and a foreign policy that works to 'neutralize' Lebanon from conflicts.

In the field of energy, the Lebanese government will seek to resume work in oil and gas exploration, according to the cabinet statement. It said the government planned to establish a Ministry of Technology and Artificial Intelligence.

With a new administration in neighboring Syria, the statement said the Lebanese government believed it has an opportunity to start a serious dialogue aimed at controlling and demarcating the borders and working to resolve the issue of displaced Syrians in Lebanon.