Turkey is training and advising Syria’s armed forces and helping improve its defenses and has no immediate plans for the withdrawal or relocation of its troops stationed there, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler told Reuters.
Turkey emerged as a key foreign ally of Syria’s new government after rebels, some of them backed for years by Ankara, ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December to end his family’s five-decade rule.
It has promised to help rebuild neighboring Syria and facilitate the return of millions of Syrian civil war refugees and played a key role last month getting US and European sanctions on Syria lifted.
The newfound Turkish influence in Damascus has raised Israeli concerns and risked a standoff or worse in Syria between the regional powers.
In written answers to questions from Reuters, Güler said Turkey and Israel, which carried out its latest airstrikes on southern Syria late on Tuesday, are continuing de-confliction talks to avoid military accidents in the country.
Turkey’s overall priority in Syria is preserving its territorial integrity and unity and ridding it of terrorism, he said, adding that Ankara was supporting Damascus in these efforts.
“We have started providing military training and consultancy services while taking steps to increase Syria’s defense capacity,” Güler said, without elaborating on those steps.