ANKARA: Turkiye will help Syria with the provision of weapons systems and logistical tools under a military cooperation accord signed on Wednesday, a Turkish defense Ministry source said on Thursday, adding that Ankara would also train Syria’s army in the use of such equipment if needed.
In a first step toward a comprehensive military cooperation agreement, Turkiye and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on military training and consultancy after talks between their foreign, defense ministers, and intelligence chiefs.
The source told reporters in Ankara that the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had not met any of the conditions set out in a March agreement with Damascus on the group’s integration into Syria’s state apparatus, and added Ankara expected it to urgently respect the deal.
Turkiye to help Syria with weapon systems, source says
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Turkiye to help Syria with weapon systems, source says
- Turkiye and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on military training and consultancy
Israel gives legal status to 19 West Bank settlements
- Construction of settlements — including some built without official Israeli authorization — has increased under Israel’s far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country’s security and the economy, Israeli media reported.
The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday.
Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said.
The move to legalize the settlements in the West Bank — territory Palestinians seek for a future state — was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Most world powers deem Israel’s settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
Construction of settlements — including some built without official Israeli authorization — has increased under Israel’s far-right governing coalition, fragmenting the West Bank and cutting off Palestinian towns and cities from each other.
The 19 settlements include two that Israel withdrew from in 2005, evacuated under a disengagement plan overseen by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that focused mainly on Gaza.
Under the plan, which was opposed by the settler movement at the time, all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza were ordered to be evacuated. Most settlements in the West Bank were unaffected.
In a statement on Friday, Palestinian Authority Minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban called the announcement another step to erase Palestinian geography.
Sha’ban, of the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the decision raised serious alarms over the future of the West Bank.
Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the Israeli-occupied West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian nation existing alongside Israel.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians reached their highest recorded levels in October with settlers carrying out at least 264 attacks, according to the UN.
