ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped Syrian rebels will continue their advance against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria, but voiced concern about what he said were terrorist organisations in their midst.
Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers he was closely following the push which he said was heading to the Syrian capital. But he suggested he had mixed feelings, given some of the forces involved.
“The target is Damascus,” he said. “I would say we hope for this advance to continue without any issues.
“However, while this resistance there with terrorist organisations is continuing, we had made a call to Assad,” he added, referring to his approaches to Assad earlier this year to meet and normalise ties after more than a decade of animosity.
“These problematic advances continuing as a whole in the region are not in a manner we desire, our heart does not want these. Unfortunately, the region is in a bind,” he said, without elaborating.
Erdogan’s comments underlined the complex structure of the rebel forces fighting Assad, and the mixed allegiances among actors on the ground, including Turkey.
Ankara has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust the Iran and Russia-backed Assad, but also views some regional players as terrorists, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist former Al-Qaeda affiliate that is part of the rebel force.
Syrian rebels captured the city of Hama on Thursday, a major victory in a week-old lightning advance across northern Syria and a devastating new blow to Assad.
Turkey has said it had no involvement in the operation and that it provided no support to the rebels.
It has repeatedly said Assad needs to engage in talks with the Syrian people for a political solution and that Ankara did not want to see a fresh wave of migrants fleeing the violence.
The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Russia will meet in Doha on Saturday as part of the Astana Process, established to seek a political solution to the 13-year old Syrian conflict.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Daren Butler and Andrew Heavens)
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