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Türkiye: No Plans for Erdogan-Assad Meeting

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, 16 November 2022. (EPA)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, 16 November 2022. (EPA)
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Türkiye: No Plans for Erdogan-Assad Meeting

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, 16 November 2022. (EPA)
Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Bali, Indonesia, 16 November 2022. (EPA)

Türkiye on Monday confirmed there are no plans for a meeting soon between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“We don’t have an immediate plan for such a meeting, but our president is sending a message: If you act responsibly, if you address the security concerns and allow the political process to move forward, then I might be prepared to take that step,” Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said in a television interview.

He added that Türkiye also needs to know whether the Assad regime will take a clear stance against the PKK and its Syrian offshoots the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Last week, Reuters said Assad had rejected a proposal by Russia's President Vladimir Putin to meet Erdogan. It said no rapprochement will happen before theTurkish presidential and parliamentary elections next year not to hand Erdogan a victory for free.

Meanwhile, Türkiye denied that Ankara requested a Russian-Iranian green light for its operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria.

“We don’t ask for permission, we just coordinate with our allies when we face a national security threat,” Kalin said

He also pointed out that under a deal signed in 2019, the US was supposed to make YPG/PKK ‘terrorists’ move 30 kilometers (18 miles) away from the Turkish border, but the agreement was never implemented.

Meanwhile, Turkish intelligence forces "neutralized" a senior PKK member in northern Syria.

The Turkish Anadolu Agency (AA) said Siham Mislih, codenamed "Mizgin Kobani," was neutralized in an operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT).

Mislih was one of the senior YPG/PKK terrorists in Ayn Issa and plotted terrorist acts against the Turkish security forces in the Operation Peace Spring region, AA added.

Also, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Turkish security forces “neutralized” five YPG/PKK members in northern Syria.

The PYG members were plotting to launch an attack in the Operation Peace Spring, Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield zones, the ministry said in a statement.

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Arab World

Italy Arrests 7 Accused of Raising Millions for Hamas

Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Italy Arrests 7 Accused of Raising Millions for Hamas

Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinian Hamas members secure the area as Egyptian workers accompanied by members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) search for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Italian police said Saturday that they have arrested seven people suspected of raising millions of euros for Palestinian group Hamas.

Police also issued international arrests for two others outside the country, said AFP.

Three associations, officially supporting Palestinian civilians but allegedly serving as a front for funding Hamas, are implicated in the investigation, said a police statement.

The nine individuals are accused of having financed approximately seven million euros ($8 million) to "associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas."

While the official objective of the three associations was to collect donations "for humanitarian purposes for the Palestinian people," more than 71 percent was earmarked for the direct financing of Hamas" or entities affiliated with the movement, according to police.

Some of the money went to "family members implicated in terrorist attacks," the statement said.

Among those arrested was Mohammad Hannoun, president of the Palestinian Association in Italy, according to media reports.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi posted on X that the operation "lifted the veil on behavior and activities which, pretending to be initiatives in favor of the Palestinian population, concealed support for and participation in terrorist organizations."

Arab World

Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
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Türkiye Holds Military Funeral for Libyan Officers Killed in Plane Crash

The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)
The Libyan national flag flies at half-mast in Tripoli on December 24, 2025, after the head of Libya's armed forces and his four aides died in a plane crash in Türkiye. (AFP)

Türkiye held a military funeral ceremony Saturday morning for five Libyan officers, including western Libya’s military chief, who died in a plane crash earlier this week.

The private jet with Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other military officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Türkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, after holding defense talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.

Saturday's ceremony was held at 8:00 a.m. local time at the Murted Airfield base, near Ankara, and attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister. The five caskets, each wrapped in a Libyan national flag, were then loaded onto a plane to be returned to their home country.

Türkiye’s military chief, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, was also on the plane headed to Libya, state-run news agency TRT reported.

The bodies recovered from the crash site were kept at the Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute for identification. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told reporters their DNA was compared to family members who joined a 22-person delegation that arrived from Libya after the crash.

Tunc also said Germany was asked to help examine the jet's black boxes as an impartial third party.

Arab World

Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
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Syrian Foreign Ministry: Talks with SDF Have Not Yielded Tangible Results

SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)
SDF fighters are seen at a military parade in Qamishli. (Reuters file)

A source from the Syrian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the talks with the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over their integration into state institutions “have not yielded tangible results.”

Discussions about merging the northeastern institutions into the state remain “hypothetical statements without execution,” it told Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Repeated assertions over Syria’s unity are being contradicted by the reality on the ground in the northeast, where the Kurds hold sway and where administrative, security and military institutions continue to be run separately from the state, it added.

The situation “consolidates the division” instead of addressing it, it warned.

It noted that despite the SDF’s continued highlighting of its dialogue with the Syrian state, these discussions have not led to tangible results.

It seems that the SDF is using this approach to absorb the political pressure on it, said the source. The truth is that there is little actual will to move from discussion to application of the March 10 agreement.

This raises doubts over the SDF’s commitment to the deal, it stressed.

Talk about rapprochement between the state and SDF remains meaningless if the agreement is not implemented on the ground within a specific timeframe, the source remarked.

Furthermore, the continued deployment of armed formations on the ground that are not affiliated with the Syrian army are evidence that progress is not being made.

The persistence of the situation undermines Syria’s sovereignty and hampers efforts to restore stability, it warned.