Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Monday hosted the U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack. The ministry did not comment on what Fidan and Barrack discussed.
Fidan was in Syria on Sunday for a surprise visit, where he met his counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, before attending a meeting between President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who arrived in Syria from Türkiye on the same day and boarded a plane lent by the government.
Foreign Ministry sources said on Sunday that Fidan discussed bilateral issues and regional matters with Syrian officials. The talks also focused on bilateral projects for rebuilding postwar Syria and supporting Syria’s capacity-building efforts, sources said. The United States also stepped up cooperation with the new administration in Syria, especially after al-Sharaa’s recent visit to Washington, D.C.
The U.S. has encouraged Syria to consider sending forces into eastern Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah, but Damascus is reluctant to embark on such a mission for fear of being drawn into the war in the Middle East and inflaming sectarian tensions, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters last month. The proposal to Syria's U.S.-allied government reflects intensifying moves to disarm Hezbollah. Al-Sharaa, however, said in a speech during the Muslim Eid al-Fitr last month that he is working to keep his country away from conflict, against the backdrop of the Middle East war, stressing that his government is on good terms with all regional countries.
