Turkey Commits Military Support To ‘New’ Post-Assad Syria With Saudis Pledging $4BN In Investment

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have indicated this week they are preparing to ramp up their investment and military support to post-Assad Syria, which is under the new regime of President al-Sharaa and his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (rebranded Syrian al-Qaeda). These very countries helped spearhead the effort alongside US intelligence to remove Assad – who fled the country on December 8.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it will provide military assistance to Syria to help “combat terrorism”. But the reality is that Turkey had long opened a ‘jihadi highway’ throughout years of the Syrian proxy war which helped cement the rise of ISIS and Syria becoming a hotbed of foreign fighters.

Turkey claims Damascus is requesting urgent security assistance. “In response to this request, we are continuing our efforts to offer training, consulting, and technical assistance to enhance Syria’s defense capacity,” a Turkish defense official said.

Ankara says its main objective is to uphold Syria’s political unity and territorial integrity and to spearhead efforts toward long-lasting peace in the region. But the reality is that Turkey and Israel are in effect dividing of the spoils of post-Assad Syria, and Israel has been signaling its ‘red line’ over and against Turkish aims.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently pledged that Turkey’s military will “not allow terrorists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability.” Turkey has long occupied portions of northern Syria, precisely where terrorists have operated and conducted mass killings – particularly targeting Kurds and minority groups like Christians and Alawites.

Regarding recent sectarian killings and unrest in Suwayda province and Israel’s intensified strikes on Damascus, Turkish officials warned that these actions have exacerbated tensions between Druze groups and the Syrian government. But it is the HTS Syrian government which have committed the bulk of atrocities carried out against Druze civilians and even clerics.

In the north, there’s currently a deal underway for the Kurdish YPG – affiliated with the outlawed PKK – to lay down its arms, which it has been resistant to.

At the same time there’s a Pentagon presence in northern Syria and in the east, and the occupation shows no signs of withdrawing.

Saudi Arabia too is eyeing greater participation in the supposedly ‘new Syria’ – now that Assad has exited:

Saudi Arabia’s investment minister led a business delegation travelling to Syria on Wednesday, where they were expected to sign deals worth around $4 billion as part of Riyadh’s efforts to support the country’s post-war recovery.

The Gulf kingdom has been a crucial supporter of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, which came to power after toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December and is now seeking to rebuild Syria after a 14-year civil war.

Of course, this was largely the plan all along – for regional powers to ‘divide and rule’ Syria, after it was brought to its knees after years of proxy war and unprecedented US-led sanctions.

Meanwhile the US promptly removed these posters…

From a US and Israeli perspective, this was to break the so-called ‘Iran/Shia axis’ in the region which heavily supported Lebanese Hezbollah. The CIA dubbed this operation ‘Timber Sycamore’ – according to earlier confirmation in The New York Times and others.