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Syria’s Islamist-led interim government has requested Turkey’s support to strengthen its defense capabilities, Turkish officials told the Associated Press on July 23.
The request came following sectarian violence over the past two weeks that increased tensions in Syria and drew intervention by Israel.
Tensions escalated in the southern governorate of al-Suwayda, with violent clashes erupting between Sunni Bedouins and Druze fighters. The conflict triggered Israeli strikes on government forces which launched an attack in the governorate in support of the Bedouins. Syria’s Defense Ministry headquarters in the capital, Damascus, was also hit by Israel, which said that it was making efforts to protect the Druze.
The Turkish Defense Ministry officials told AP that Syria has also sought assistance to combat “terrorist organizations,” including ISIS.
Turkey, which has long expressed readiness to assist Syria, was working toward providing training, advisory services, and technical support to help strengthen Syria’s defense capacity, the officials add.
On the same day as AP’s report, a senior delegation of the Syrian Ministry of Defense visited Turkey’s IDEF 2025 Defense Industry Exhibition in the city of Istanbul.
Video footage that surfaced online later showed a convoy of trucks carrying brand-new Ejder 6×6 armored personnel carriers, manufactured by Turkey’s Nurol Makina, moving somewhere in northern Syria. The APCs were reportedly delivered to the Syrian military.
Turkey, which strongly supports the Syrian government led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, has been seeking a strategic defense pact with Syria that could reportedly include establishing Turkish ground, air and naval bases on Syrian territory.
Israel has already warned that it won’t accept an enlarged Turkish military presence in the country. It even went as far as launching strikes against some of the bases scouted by Turkish officers on the coast and in the central region. Still, the recent remarks by Turkish officials indicate that Ankara is determined to go on with its plans in Syria.
How exactly Israel will react is unclear, but it is every possible that any advanced weapons supplied by Turkey, like drones or air defenses, will be targeted by the Israeli military.
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