Türkiye acting carefully to ensure Daesh/ISIS, PKK terrorists do not exploit post-regime Syria: Foreign minister

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye is acting carefully to ensure that Daesh/ISIS and PKK terrorists do not exploit the situation in post-Assad regime Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday.

During the over decade-long Syrian civil war, both terrorist groups have used the lack of an effective administration to have free reign, with the PKK/YPG seeking to establish a terrorist corridor along the border with Türkiye, and Turkish troops deployed to prevent that threat.

Stressing that Turkish officials are in contact with their US counterparts, Fidan urged all actors in the region and elsewhere to act calmly and carefully, as the region must not be dragged into further instability.

Stressing that Türkiye places great importance on Syria's national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, Fidan stated the Syrian state institutions must be protected and the opposition forces must immediately unite.

The Syrian people will reshape their country's future, he said, adding that millions of Syrians who had to leave their country during the long civil war can now return.

Stating that Türkiye will continue to work with Syria's new administration, using everything it has together with regional neighbors to rebuild the country, Fidan said that they have no information on the whereabouts of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad, adding that he might be abroad.

Since the capital Damascus on Sunday came under the control of anti-regime forces, there have been rumors that Assad fled, but nothing has been confirmed.

- Road to Assad regime collapse

After a long period of relative calm, clashes broke out between Assad regime forces and anti-regime armed groups on Nov. 27 in rural areas west of Aleppo, a major city in northern Syria.

On Nov. 30, anti-regime groups took control of most of the center of Aleppo from regime forces, and on the same day, they gained control over the entire Idlib province. Last Thursday, after fierce clashes, the groups took the city center of Hama from regime forces.

Anti-regime groups captured some settlements in the strategically important province of Homs, a gateway to the capital Damascus, and started to advance there.

On Friday, armed opposition groups launched an operation in the Daraa province on Syria's border with Jordan and recaptured the city center from the regime forces after clashes.

On Saturday, the entire province of Suwayda in southern Syria also came under the control of opposition groups. On the same day, local opposition groups in Quneitra also took control of the provincial center.

In the province of Homs, which leads to the capital, anti-regime forces took control of the provincial center on Saturday.

Groups advancing against Assad regime forces entered the southern suburbs of Damascus later on Saturday. Regime forces also withdrew from the Defense and Interior ministries and the international airport in Damascus.

As anti-regime armed groups started to dominate the capital, the Assad regime on Sunday morning quickly lost all control of Damascus.

Separately, in Operation Dawn of Freedom launched by the opposition Syrian National Army against the terrorist organization PKK/YPG in rural areas of Aleppo on Dec.1, the Tel Rifaat district center was liberated from terrorism.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel