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The Turkish Foreign Minister said during a visit to Damascus that the Syrian interim government is ready to take control of ISIS detention camps run by Kurdish militants supported by the United States.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan became the first foreign minister to travel to Syria to meet the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. Abu Muhammad Al-Julani, Who is also known by his birth name, Ahmed Al-Sharaa. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham led the attack that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Fidan said on Sunday that the Syrian administration informed us that it is ready to take the necessary initiative to hand over these prisoners.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which helped defeat ISIS with US air support, are guarding about 10,000 captured fighters as well as thousands of their family members in camps in eastern Syria. Washington has warned that ISIS may try to exploit instability in Syria and maintains about 2,000 US special forces in the region.
The Turkish government has called for the dissolution of the People's Defense Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia that dominates the SDF, because it views its self-administration along Turkey's southern border as a threat to national security.
Turkey also accuses the YPG of being an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, killing 40,000 people.
Fidan said on Sunday that Western countries allowed the Kurdish People's Protection Units to illegally occupy nearly a third of Syrian territory in exchange for keeping it. ISIS detainees He is being held in Syria, but he said he believes US President-elect Donald Trump will change course soon.
He added: “When you look at this from the perspective of American interests, and when you do the calculations, is Turkey important or is a terrorist group like the Kurdistan Workers’ Party important?” He said that Mr. Trump sees the calculations immediately.
Fidan added that Türkiye is ready to “provide the strongest support” in the fight against ISIS.
Al-Julani said that controlling Syrian armed groups was a priority and that his administration would announce the structure of the Ministry of Defense and the Army within days. He added: “We will not allow any weapons to leave the country, whether from the revolutionary factions or from the factions present in the SDF area.”
Turkey, the most vocal supporter of Syrian rebels in their 13-year war against Assad, pledged to help rebuild its neighbor and called on the international community to engage with Syria's new leaders. Fidan said he hopes his visit will encourage other governments to send high-level officials.
We believe that the new administration in Damascus will take appropriate steps to ensure the integrity of Syrian territory and its political sovereignty. Fidan said: “In my meeting with (Al-Julani), I heard the framework of that vision.”
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt also met with Al-Julani on Sunday, with the two men calling for a reset of relations between the two countries, which have been characterized by tension for decades.
Jumblatt, who holds the first Assad regime responsible for the assassination of his political father in 1977, had previously announced that he would not return to Damascus until after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government.
Al-Julani called for moving away from that turbulent past, saying that the previous Syrian government “was a source of anxiety and discomfort.”
He added, “The coming Syria in this new era will stand at the same distance from everyone in Lebanon and there will not be any case of negative interference.”
