To prevent a Turkish military attack against North and East Syria a secret meeting was hosted in a Gulf state between the US President’s Deputy Assistant, Middle East & North Africa White House Coordinator Brett McGurk, and Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, reported Asharq Al-Awsat.
As Ankara and Damascus begin to rebuild diplomatic relations, the US has been mediating between Ankara and the Kurds to deter a new Turkish incursion east of the Euphrates River, İbrahim Hamidi wrote for the news agency.
Under tensions between the White House Coordinator and Ankara, McGurk reiterated warnings against any measure that would impact the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the war on terror, Hamidi said.
Touching upon possible cooperation between the Kurds and Damascus, Hamidi commented that, “each side wants to feel out the respective party’s stance on the normalisation”.
“The Kurds are now eager to cooperate with Damascus if it means preventing a new Turkish offensive against them, while Damascus is more than ready to deal with them in their position of weakness,” Hamidi said, based on a visit by Kurdish delegation to Damascus just days ago.
Meanwhile, national security chiefs and defense ministers of Turkey and Syria recently met in Moscow, and foreign affairs ministers from the two countries are expected to meet soon.
Hamidi reported that Iran and the United Arab Emirates also joined efforts in Syria and offered to host or take part in the Syrian-Turkish-Russian meetings.
