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Türkiye will provide military support to neighboring Syria against terrorism, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The Syrian government requested official support from Türkiye to strengthen its defense capacity and combat terror groups, especially Daesh, the ministry sources told reporters at the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) 2025 in Istanbul.
“In line with this request, we continue to work to provide training, consultancy and technical support to increase Syria’s defense capacity,” the sources said, requesting anonymity.
“Türkiye’s primary goal is to support Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity and to lead efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region,” they added.
The new Syrian government has been working to reestablish order nationwide since the ouster of former regime leader Bashar Assad on Dec. 8, 2024.
Ankara, which has cordial ties with the new government, has repeatedly offered Damascus its operational and military to fight Daesh and other terrorist threats.
Daesh seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of the civil war, declaring a cross-border “caliphate” in 2014 before being territorially defeated in 2019. The terrorist group has since shifted to “studied attacks on strategic targets” in Syria and maintains sleeper cells across northeastern regions.
In May, Syrian security services uncovered more Daesh cells in rural Damascus, a week before the terrorists carried out a suicide attack in a church, killing at least 20 people.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed Türkiye would “not allow terrorists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability.”
Also in collaboration with Jordan and Iraq, Türkiye and Syria have activated the Counter-Daesh Coordination Cell, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced last month.
He said the joint mechanism’s effective fight against Daesh would mean the West will no longer need to rely on YPG terrorists to fight Daesh.
Suwayda unrest
Responding to questions about the clashes in Syria’s Suwayda province and Israel’s attacks on Damascus, Defense Ministry sources said Israel’s increasingly intensified strikes have heightened tensions between the Druze community in the southern Suwayda region and the Damascus government.
Türkiye maintains its resolute stance on preserving Syria’s territorial integrity, ensuring stability and combating terrorist organizations, sources added.
On July 13, clashes broke out between Bedouin Arab tribes and armed Druze groups in Suwayda. Violence escalated, and Israeli airstrikes followed, targeting Syrian military positions and infrastructure, including in the capital, Damascus.
While Israel cited the “protection of Druze communities” as a pretext for its attacks, most Druze leaders in Syria have publicly rejected any foreign interference and reaffirmed their commitment to a unified Syrian state. A cease-fire was announced on Saturday.
YPG integration
On the integration of the YPG into the new Syrian army, the sources said the terrorist group “prove it is adhering to a recent integration agreement with the Syrian government.”
Syria’s territorial integrity is essential for regional stability and Ankara is closely monitoring events there, following a deal reached on March 10 between Damascus and the YPG, an offshoot of the PKK, a terrorist group blacklisted by Türkiye, the U.K., the U.S., and the EU.
“The YPG must concretely demonstrate that it is abiding by the agreement it made with the Damascus government,” the ministry source said.
Türkiye has repeatedly said it would not tolerate moves that could lead to the fragmentation of Syria and has voiced opposition to any form of autonomy for PKK-linked terror groups near its southern border.
The YPG is the Syrian wing of the PKK, which started laying down arms after decades of violence, as part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched last year.
The group was openly supported by the U.S., which had designated the PKK as a terrorist group years ago. Washington justified the armament of the YPG as part of its alliance with the YPG against the terrorist group Daesh.
The YPG has been reluctant to join the PKK to abandon arms, while Ankara hopes that even if it does not join the PKK, it may integrate itself into the new Syrian army and therefore, cease its existence.
The YPG signed a deal with the new administration in Damascus in the wake of the fall of the Baathist regime last December for integration, but the deal showed little progress as the YPG repeatedly voiced its demand for a “decentralized” administration in the country, hoping to keep its self-styled autonomous entity in northeastern Syria intact. Damascus staunchly opposes it.
