Amid Syrian rebels’ offensive, Iranian foreign minister arrives in Turkey for talks

After
Syrian opposition forces captured much of Aleppo in a swift offensive, Iran has scrambled to reassure President Bashar al-Assad and engage with regional players.

After visiting Damascus to meet Assad earlier on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived later in the evening in Turkish capital Ankara to hold high-level talks over the situation in the Syrian Civil War.

In Ankara, Araghchi is expected to hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday before talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later in the day, according to AFP.

Last week, for the first time in four years,
Syrian opposition forces launched an offensive against longtime ruler Assad’s regime and, by Saturday, captured much of Aleppo, once the largest city in Syria. The opposition forces push came at a time when Assad’s allies Iran, Russia, and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have been central in his survival through the decadelong civil war, are distracted in conflicts with Ukraine and Israel.

In the Syrian Civil War, Iran and Turkey are supporters of the opposite camps. While Turkey has long supported the opposition forces, Iran along with Russia have supported Assad. Since 2020, fighting had essentially stalled in the war after Russia and Turkey brokered a ceasefire. Now, that understanding remains shattered.

Even though Turkey has opposed the movement against Assad, it has sought a rapprochement of sorts lately. Those efforts are bound to be complicated by the opposition forces’ ongoing push against regime forces.

In addition to supporting the rebels, Turkey is also heavily invested in Syria as up to 3.2 million Syrian refugees displaced by the decadelong civil war currently live in Turkey, according to the figures with the United Nations (UN).