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‘Normalization’ Talks Between Ankara, Damascus Kick Off in Moscow

General view in Moscow, Russia (AFP)
General view in Moscow, Russia (AFP)
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‘Normalization’ Talks Between Ankara, Damascus Kick Off in Moscow

General view in Moscow, Russia (AFP)
General view in Moscow, Russia (AFP)

Tension and anticipation dominated Tuesday’s four-way talks in Moscow with the presence of deputy foreign ministers from Russia, Syria, Iran, and Türkiye.

Despite secrecy shrouding the consultation round held behind closed doors, the Syrian side's aggressive statements hinted at the failure of efforts to push for normalization between Damascus and Ankara.

Meanwhile, Russian sources expressed satisfaction with the meeting, viewing it as an important preliminary step towards arranging talks between foreign ministers “as soon as possible.”

The deputy foreign ministers’ meeting launched without revealing any agenda or details regarding the positions of participating parties.

The Syrian delegation announced their conditions for normalization with Ankara before the closed sessions, but Russian diplomatic sources minimized the significance of the Syrian “hardline” position.

They emphasized that the purpose of the deputy foreign ministers' meeting was not to make public statements or announce agreements, but rather to prepare for an upcoming ministerial meeting.

The aim is to lay the groundwork for agreements that will lead to a summit attended by the leaders of the four countries, explained Russian sources.

According to state news agency SANA, Ayman Sousan, Syria's deputy foreign minister who attended the talks in Moscow, had stressed on three key points during the meeting.

These points included “ending Türkiye’s illegal presence on Syrian soil, refraining from interfering in Syrian internal affairs, and combating terrorism in all its forms.”

The delegations from Russia, Türkiye, and Iran did not officially respond to Sousan’s statements.

However, the Russian government-owned channel RT later aired the speech of the Syrian delegation's leader during the meeting, without mentioning the remarks of the other parties.

According to RT, Sousan affirmed that Türkiye’s formal and unequivocal announcement that it will withdraw its forces from all Syrian lands, and to start withdrawal from these lands, is “the gateway to re-establish communication between the two sides.”

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Displaced Syrians Who Have Returned Home Face a Fragile Future, Says UN Refugees Chief

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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Displaced Syrians Who Have Returned Home Face a Fragile Future, Says UN Refugees Chief

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad in December.

Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as “fragile and hopeful” and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure.

“How can we make sure that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people don’t move again because they don’t have a house or they don’t have a job or they don’t have electricity?” Grandi asked a small group of journalists after the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and spoke with returning refugees.

“What is needed for people to return, electricity but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,” he said.

Syria’s near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of Assad in a lightning opposition offensive, killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad’s fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period.

However, there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region -- including the new Israel-Iran war -- and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare, education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon.

“The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign assistance,” Grandi said, adding: “I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.”

Some have also fled for security reasons since Assad's fall. While the situation has stabilized since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former opposition groups together into a national army.

Grandi said the UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and “provide them with basic assistance.”

“This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not so strong right now,” he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians “are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.”

The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again.

The UN does not yet have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel, he said.

“We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,” he said. “And we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran - they’re working out of bunkers because of the bombs.”