The new Syrian government is ready to run Isis prison camps, a Turkish minister says

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Syria’s interim government is ready to take control of Isis prison camps run by US-backed Kurdish fighters, Turkey’s foreign minister said during a visit to Damascus.

Ankara’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan became the first foreign minister to visit Syria to meet the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who also goes by his birth name of Ahmed al-Sharaa. HTS led the attack that toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

“The Syrian authorities have told us that they are ready to take the necessary steps to capture these prisoners,” Fidan said on Sunday.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which helped defeat Isis with US air support, captured around 10,000 fighters and thousands of their families in camps in eastern Syria. Washington has warned that Isis could try to exploit the instability in Syria and keep 2,000 US special forces in the region.

The Turkish government has called for the People’s Defense Forces (YPG), the Kurdish militia that dominates the SDF, to disband because it considers its autonomy near Turkey’s southern border a national security threat. .

Turkey also accuses the YPG of being an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, resulting in the deaths of 40,000 people.

Fidan said on Sunday that western countries had allowed the YPG to “legally seize” about a third of Syria’s territory for safekeeping. Isis prisoners imprisoned in Syria, but said he believes that US president-elect Donald Trump will soon change course.

“When you look at this from the perspective of US interests, when you do the math, is Turkey more important or a terrorist group like the PKK more important? Mr. Trump sees the numbers immediately,” he said.

Turkey was ready to “give the strongest support” to the fight against Isis, Fidan added.

Jolani said bringing Syrian armed groups under control is a priority and that his administration will announce the composition of the defense and military ministries in a few days. “We will not allow any weapons to be outside the country, whether it is rebel groups or groups that are in the SDF area,” he said.

Turkey, a prominent supporter of Syrian rebels in their 13-year war against Assad, has pledged to help rebuild its neighbor and is calling on the international community to cooperate with Syria’s new leaders. Fidan said he hoped his visit would encourage other governments to send high-level officials.

“We believe that the new regime in Damascus will take appropriate measures to ensure the sovereignty of the Syrian state and political sovereignty. In my meeting with (Jolani), I heard the outline of that vision,” said Fidan.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt also met with Jolani on Sunday, with both men calling for an end to decades of conflict between the two countries.

Jumblatt, who holds the former Assad regime responsible for the assassination of his political father in 1977, had previously said he would only return to Damascus after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Jolani called for a break from the troubled past, saying the former Syrian government “was a source of worry and trouble”.

“Syria that comes in this new era will stay away from everyone in Lebanon, and there will be no serious interference,” he added.