Syria, Türkiye Discuss Roadmap for Safe Return of Syrian Refugees

Head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan (L), standing beside Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, has recently visited Damascus and held talks with Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk. (Reuters)
Head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan (L), standing beside Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, has recently visited Damascus and held talks with Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk. (Reuters)
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Syria, Türkiye Discuss Roadmap for Safe Return of Syrian Refugees

Head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan (L), standing beside Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, has recently visited Damascus and held talks with Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk. (Reuters)
Head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan (L), standing beside Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, has recently visited Damascus and held talks with Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk. (Reuters)

Head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Hakan Fidan and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk have recently met in Damascus.

Daily Sabah newspaper that is close to the Turkish government revealed details of the meeting, which it said was an attempt to form a roadmap for the safe return of Syrians who sought refuge in Türkiye.

It pointed out that both sides discussed issues they consider a top priority, as well as the main articles in the road map that must be followed, stressing that tangible outcomes of the talks will take some time.

It quoted sources as indicating that discussions tackled the safe return of all asylum seekers, returning the properties to their owners, creating working and employment conditions, and ensuring that no verdicts are issued against Syrians wishing to return home.

The Turkish side underscored the importance of canceling Law No. 10, which the Syrian government passed on April 2, 2018 and allows for creating redevelopment zones across Syria that will be designated for reconstruction.

The law stipulates that people who own property in the zone are to be notified and have 30 days to provide proof of ownership. If they fail to do so, they will not be compensated, and ownership reverts to the province, town, or city where the property is located.

However, human rights activists considered it a mass punishment for Syrian citizens who sought refuge abroad.

The newspaper further pointed out that the regime requested the withdrawal of Turkish forces from all Syrian territories.

The Turkish delegation affirmed that Ankara is committed to Syria’s territorial integrity, but stated that these demands can be evaluated later, provided that the constitutional process is completed, free elections are held, and the Adana Anti-Terror Agreement signed between the two countries in 1998 is renewed.

Reuters quoted four sources as noting that Fidan and Mamlouk held multiple meetings over the last few weeks, a sign of Russian efforts to encourage a thaw between states on opposite sides of Syria’s war.

The contacts reflect a Russian policy shift as Moscow steels itself for a protracted conflict in Ukraine and seeks to secure its position in Syria, where its forces have supported President Bashar al-Assad since 2015, according to two Turkish officials and the regional source.

During the meetings, Fidan - one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's closest confidants - and Mamlouk evaluated how the two countries’ foreign ministers could eventually meet, according to a senior Turkish official and a Turkish security source.

“Russia wants Syria and Türkiye to overcome their problems and achieve certain agreements...which are in the interest of everyone, both Türkiye and Syria,” said the Turkish official.

However, one big challenge is Türkiye’s desire to include Syrian rebels in any talks with Damascus, the official added.

The Turkish security official said Russia has gradually withdrawn some military resources from Syria in order to focus on Ukraine, and had asked Türkiye to normalize relations with Assad to “accelerate a political solution” in Syria.

The Damascus-allied source said Russia had nudged Syria to enter talks as Moscow seeks to nail down its position and that of Assad in case it must redeploy forces to Ukraine.



US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.