While a new Syrian government works to establish order since Syrian rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government, the political power vacuum leaves some of the country’s neighbors anxious to ensure their foreign policy aims. To that end, Israel and Turkey on Wednesday began a series of talks aimed at preventing confrontation between their militaries as each country conducts discrete operations within Syria.
With Syria still in fragile political flux and both Israel and Turkey navigating choppy international circumstances extending far beyond their distinct Syrian aims, what does their diplomatic tête-à-tête mean for an area reeling from years of armed conflict? And does this attempt at cooperation truly negate the risk of a military confrontation?
Why are Israel and Turkey in Syria?
Turkey has “long occupied parts of northern Syria” both to support the opposition forces who helped topple the Assad regime and to fight “Kurdish rebels that it calls a terrorist threat,” said The New York Times. Israel, meanwhile, moved into a “long-established buffer zone along the Golan Heights” following Assad’s ouster and has since carried out various raids and bombing strikes across southern Syria. Fearful of a “new threat along its border” with Syria now under a “new Islamist leadership,” Israel has established a “buffer zone inside Syrian territory,” said The Associated Press.
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Israel has accused Turkey of “trying to establish a ‘neo-Ottoman state,'” said Deutsche Welle, citing Israeli officials. And Israel is enacting “aggressive and expansionist policies” with its strikes on Syrian positions, Turkish officials said. The fall of the Assad government presented an “opportunity” for Turkey to “turn Syria into a sort of protectorate” for its “regional interests” beyond simply securing its shared border, said Haaretz analyst Zvi Bar’el. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has similarly described Israeli strikes within Syria as being part of a “deliberate strategy” to prevent the new Syrian government from “inheriting any operational capability following the departure of Assad,” said Turkey’s pro-government Daily Sabah.
What is the goal of this week’s negotiation?
This week’s negotiations are “aimed at easing tensions” between the two rival powers operating in a space where “militaries of both countries are active,” said Al Jazeera. The first meeting between representatives of the two nations, which took place Wednesday in Azerbaijan, marks the “beginning of efforts to set up a communications channel” intended to “avoid potential clashes or misunderstandings” as both countries deploy their militaries into Syrian territory.
During the meeting, Israeli officials made “unequivocally clear” that changes in Turkish military deployments in Syria, “particularly the establishment of Turkish bases in the Palmyra area,” is a “red line” that would be taken as a serious security breach, said The Jerusalem Post. “We don’t want to see Syria being used by anyone, including Turkey, as a base for attacks on Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday during an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu did not expand upon “what circumstance he believed Turkey might attack Israel,” said the Times. And Turkey has framed the “technical” talks as being “similar to deconfliction mechanisms” it has with the U.S. and Russia, Reuters said.
