U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Thursday for talks focused on a critical aspect of establishing stability in Syria: clashes in the north of the country between U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and Turkey-backed rebels.

As HTS and other groups gradually settle in the Syrian capital and other captured territories, various external players are actively establishing contacts with militant leaders.

▪️Yesterday, the head of the Turkish intelligence agency MIT, Ibrahim Kalin, visited Damascus for negotiations with Abu Muhammad al-Julani. Most likely, the purpose of the talks was to convey to the HTS leader how Turkey sees the future of Syria and what steps it wishes to see from him in this direction.

▪️Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Ankara to discuss "the role of the US and Turkey in the future of Syria". According to him, Washington expects that the new government will lead to stability in the country and will not pose a threat to neighboring states.

▪️At the same time, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan added that Turkey seeks not only to achieve peace in Syria, but also to stop terrorist organizations. Among them, he named the "Kurdistan Workers' Party", which has long been a bogeyman for the authorities in Ankara.

On the one hand, diplomatic activity is related to the northeast of Syria controlled by the Kurds, where the main oil resources are concentrated and American troops are stationed. The parties are seeking to settle the issue through a compromise agreement that would avoid hostilities in the region.

📌 In parallel, both Turkey and the US are seeking to find in HTS a partner who will very carefully listen to their vision of the situation. The carrot here is the lifting of sanctions on Syria, whitewashing the image of the group and personally al-Julani, and the stick is the refusal of Turkish assistance or even an MQ-9 strike.

The thing is, the fate of any such agreements directly depends on the physical ability of HTS to at least create the appearance of order throughout the captured territory and real control over the "progressive jihadists".

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Sources: News Agency - Officials