ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he had asked to meet Syria’s Bashar Assad on the sidelines of UN talks in New York next week to normalize ties.
Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war — but Erdogan, who then supported rebel efforts to topple all-powerful president Assad, has sought rapprochement with Damascus in recent months.
“We are now waiting for the other party’s response,” Erdogan told reporters before flying out to the United Nations General Assembly where he is due to speak on Monday.
The conflict in Gaza has exacerbated Turkiye’s fears that fighting might escalate to the broader region.
Erdogan said “Gaza would be at the center” of his talks in New York, vowing that “Turkiye wants to play a role in putting an end to the atrocities committed in Gaza.”
Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have followed sabotage attacks on pagers and two-way radios used by Lebanese, Iran-backed Hezbollah earlier this week, which killed 39 people. Hezbollah blamed Israel, which has not commented.
“The recent attacks led by Israel against Lebanon have justified Turkiye’s concerns about the risks of an extended conflict,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkiye would do what it could “against the storm of deaths that global Zionism is unleashing in the Middle East.”
Erdogan also called on Western nations and the international community to “stop watching the murders committed by Israel and take deterrent measures,” without specifying further.
Turkish forces and Turkiye-backed rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria and Turkiye has taken in 3.2 million refugees from the war-torn country, according to UN data.
The Syrian conflict, which began after the repression of anti-government protests in 2011, has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
Erdogan wants to meet with Syria’s Assad over ties
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Erdogan wants to meet with Syria’s Assad over ties
- Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war — but Erdogan has sought rapprochement with Damascus in recent months
UN peacekeepers say Israeli forces fired on them in southern Lebanon
- “Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF soldiers in a Merkava tank,” UNIFIL said
- It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers a day earlier in the country’s south, urging Israel’s army to “cease aggressive behavior.”
It is the latest such incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank,” a UNIFIL statement said, referring to the de facto border.
“One ten-round burst of machine-gun fire was fired above the convoy, and four further ten-round bursts were fired nearby,” the statement said.
It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory at the time of the incident and that the Israeli military had been informed of the location and timing of the peacekeeping patrol in advance.
“Peacekeepers asked the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels... Fortunately, no one was injured,” it said.
Last month UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning shots.
In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month.
“Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious violations of (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said on Wednesday, referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024 truce.
“We call on the IDF to cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working to rebuild stability along the Blue Line,” the peacekeepers said.
Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.
It has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
On Saturday, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Lebanon urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire.
It emphasized that the “safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted,” after gunmen on mopeds attacked UNIFIL personnel last week.
