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Nearly two months after the fall of the Assad regime, Syria is still facing serious security challenges and struggling to balance relations with foreign actors.
On February 3, at least 20 people, including 11 women and three children, were killed in a car bomb attack in the outskirts of the town of Manbij in the northern Aleppo countryside. Syria’s transitional government condemned the attack, while unofficial sources pinned the blame on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is backed by the United States.
The SDF lost control over Manbij during the same offensive that saw the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad last December. In the following weeks, it engaged in deadly clashes with Turkish-backed forces.
Also on February 3, Israeli forces withdrew from several government buildings in the southern governorate of al-Quneitra. However, they maintained control over the buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights which they occupied after the fall of the Assad regime. With several bases being established there a full withdrawal remains highly unlikely.
On February 4, Syria’s transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa made a historical visit to Ankara, where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to a report by Reuters, the two leaders discussed a security pact that could see Turkey establish new air bases in central Syria, use Syrian airspace for military purposes, and take a lead role in training troops in Syria’s new army. The move is mainly meant to pressure the SDF, which has so far rejected several offers to join the country’s transitional government. The pact may also be meant to counter Israel.
While Turkey is working to expand its military presence in Syria, Russia continues its efforts to secure its bases on the coast of the country, the Tartus naval base and Hmeymim air base.
Speaking about the negotiations regarding the presence of the two bases, Syria’s interior minister Ali Kaddah said in an interview with Sputnik on February 5 that they are still ongoing; the results will be announced immediately after their completion.
Also on February 5, a report by NBC News revealed that the Pentagon was developing plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria.
President Donald Trump and officials close to him recently expressed interest in pulling U.S. troops out of Syria. This led Pentagon officials to begin drawing up plans for a full withdrawal in 30, 60 or 90 days, according to the report. A decision to pull out the 2,000-strong force is yet to be made however.
All in all, the Syrian transitional government appears to be working to build balanced foreign relations with all sides. This task won’t be easy however, with Israel posing the biggest challenge.
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the us will soon flee syria 🇺🇸= 🤡 🖕😆🖕
nuke kyiv now with all zelenska’s gay members inside.
how is isreal the biggest challenge when turkey occupies much more territory of syria then isreal.
who the fk you think erdogan is working for? destabilize, make chaos and confusion and coruption. israels devise.
they did all neede to destroy syria, now they’re withdrawing. only 2000 strong keep north east under theirs control and al tanf. israel is cancer of most dangerous kind.