Turkish and British officials to discuss post-Assad Syria in Ankara talks

By Reuters 2 March 2025, 5:30 pm

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This aerial view shows people walking along a market street with collapsed buildings that were destroyed during the Syrian Civil War, in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 1, 2025. (Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Turkish and British officials will discuss Syria’s future during a meeting in Ankara tomorrow, with security, sanctions and economic development on the agenda, a Turkish foreign ministry source says.

NATO-member Turkey was a main backer of rebels who fought Bashar al-Assad for years and it has forged close ties with the new administration in Damascus following Assad’s ouster last year. It has promised to help rebuild Syria and offered assistance to train and equip its security forces.

Britain said last month it would adapt its Syria sanctions regimes after Assad’s fall but will ensure asset freezes and travel bans imposed on members of the former government remain in place.

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, says Monday’s talks will be led by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz and British junior Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer. Yilmaz will emphasize the need for sanctions on Syria to be lifted unconditionally for rebuilding and economic development, the source says.

Yilmaz will also stress “the importance of the international community backing the Syrian administration’s steps toward achieving national reconciliation within a central government,” and push “to stop Israel’s actions openly violating and threatening Syria’s sovereignty,” the source adds.