In an effort to reduce the likelihood of war between two significant U.S. allies whose ties have been strained since the war in Gaza started in 2023, Turkey and Israel are now reportedly attempting to ease military tensions in Syria.
According to declarations from both governments, officials from the two nations convened in Azerbaijan on Wednesday to start discussions on establishing a system to prevent clashes between the Israeli and Turkish armies in Syria.
According to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tzachi Hanegbi, the director of the Israeli National Security Council, conducted the negotiations with Turkish authorities.
During Syria’s protracted civil war, both the Turkish and Israeli armies were stationed there for several years. Tensions between the two nations have increased since the conflict concluded in December with the overthrow of the Assad administration.
While Turkey has welcomed the nation’s new Islamist-dominated administration, which is run by former rebel leaders, Israel has begun a series of increasingly intense military strikes that it claims are meant to safeguard its long-term security.
The fall of the Assad administration in Syria drastically changed the Middle East’s power dynamics, handing Russia and Iran a crushing loss and increasing the sway of Turkey, which had long backed the uprising against the previous government that started in 2011.
The new Syrian government, headed by former members of the Sunni Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, has faced hostility from Israel.
In an attempt to achieve worldwide recognition, the group, which was first formed as an Al-Qaeda offshoot, severed its links with the terrorist group in 2016 and pledged to stop attacking foreign targets.
President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former rebel leader who spearheaded the 11-day offensive that ousted Assad from power, is leading Syria’s new administration, and Turkey was one of the first countries to support it.
In an effort to administer Syria more inclusively, Sharaa appointed a new cabinet in late March that consists of prominent figures from Syrian civil society, competent technocrats, and members of minority groups.
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