Trump Reportedly Set To Meet Syria’s Interim President Amid Concerns in Israel Over Role of Turkey

As President Trump reportedly plans to meet the Syrian interim president, Ahmed a-Sharaa, Israel is increasingly concerned about the former terrorist’s chief backer, NATO-member Turkey.Mr. Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda fighter, is eager to end American sanctions imposed on Syria during the rule of his predecessor, President Assad. According to a report on i24 News, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman is now arranging a meeting between the former terrorist and Mr. Trump during the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia, scheduled for next month.An Israeli network, i24, adds that Riyadh is brokering a peace deal between Syria and Israel. As of yet, though, Jerusalem is skeptical that Mr. Sharaa can be transformed into a peaceful neighbor. The new Syrian ruler’s Islamist nom de guerre was Abu Mohammed al-Julani.“A-Sharaa is irredeemable in my view, but maybe he can bamboozle the Americans,” the founder of Alma research center in northern Israel, Sarit Zehavi, tells the Sun. “Al-Julani released all the jihadists that Assad imprisoned,” an unidentified security official told Israeli reporters over the weekend. “They are well-armed and they are preparing attacks against Israel,” The official added that Israel is increasingly concerned about Turkey’s widening entrenchment in Syria. The Turkish military is planning to take over a central Syrian air base, known as T4, the website Middle East Eye reported over the weekend. The Qatari-funded outlet reports that the Turkish military is planning to deploy anti-aircraft batteries in the T4 base near Palmyra.The Israeli air force consistently aims at targets across Syria, including the Palmyra base. The Turkish presence there “is a potential threat,” the Israeli security official said. “We recently struck the T4 base to send a message that we would not permit any threat to our operational freedom over Syrian skies.” Jerusalem, he added, sent messages to Ankara that it is not interested in a kinetic confrontation with the Turkish military. Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose allies are obliged to defend each other when attacked. Ankara also possesses more advanced anti-aircraft systems and other arms than most foes of Israel. Recent statements from President Erdogan, meanwhile, have increased fears of direct confrontation, perhaps on Syrian soil.“May Allah, for the sake of his name ‘Al-Qahhar,’ destroy and devastate Zionist Israel,” Mr. Erdogan said Sunday, using one of God’s 99 names from the Koran. He spoke at an Istanbul mosque marking the Ramadan-ending Eid al-Fitr holiday.“The dictator Erdogan revealed his antisemitic face,” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said in response. “Erdogan is dangerous to the region, as well as to his own people, as has been proven in recent days.”Mr. Trump and the Turkish president spoke on the phone earlier this week even as Ankara’s internal security forces were squashing nationwide protests over the arrest of Mr. Erdogan’s popular opponent, Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of Istanbul. Turkey is hoping to receive American F-35 jet fighters, after Washington suspended a deal in reaction to Ankara’s purchase of Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft batteries. Mr. Sharaa, meanwhile, is attempting to convince Washington that the time has come to end America’s sanctions on Syria. Over the weekend he named a new cabinet that includes women, as well as politicians from several minority factions. “We hope this announcement represents a positive step for an inclusive and representative Syria,” the Department of State’s spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce, said Monday, adding though that no decision has been made to end the sanctions. “Syria’s interim authorities should fully renounce and suppress terrorism, exclude foreign terrorist fighters from any official roles, prevent Iran and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory, take meaningful steps to verifiably destroy Assad’s chemical weapons, assist in the recovery of U.S. and other citizens who have been disappeared in Syria, and ensure the security and freedoms of Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities,” Ms. Bruce said. For now, Washington fully backs Israel’s defensive movements in Syria, including carving a 10-mile security belt inside Syria to protect the Druze minority, and the capture of the strategic Hermon mountaintop. Mr. Sharaa has on several occasions claimed that he has no plans to fight Israel, but also said Israel should not violate Syria’s territorial integrity. “Every morning, as al-Julani opens his eyes at Beirut’s presidential palace, he must remember that we are watching him from here,” Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said during a recent visit to the Hermon mount. “We’re here to protect Israel from him and his Jihadist friends, and to defend our Druze brothers.”Some Israelis are skeptical about Mr. Sharaa’s longevity in power. “In a country with so many different factions, I doubt he’d last long,” a former intelligence officer, Marco Moreno, told Kan News in reaction to reports of attempts to reach Israeli-Syrian peace.

Trump Reportedly Set To Meet Syria’s Interim President Amid Concerns in Israel Over Role of Turkey

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