In an interview with the Turkish Anadolu news agency last Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Edward Price said that the Biden administration "will continue to work with Turkey to achieve common interests in Syria." Was that meant as a message to the Middle East?
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Syria has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since 2011. Both Turkey and the United States have a military presence in the north of the country. Turkey currently holds one security zone around Ras al-Ayn and another one around Idlib and Aleppo.
In July 2019, the US imposed sanctions on Turkey and removed Ankara from the F-35 joint strike fighter program over its decision to buy the S-400 air defense system from Russia.
Ankara understands full well that if it calls off the agreement with Moscow, Washington will remove the sanctions it had imposed and will return Turkey to the F-35 project, which will, in turn, help the country continue its military operations in northern Syria.
The growing cooperation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Joe Biden might not bode well with several Middle Eastern countries.
If Turkey gains military prowess, it will undermine Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's efforts to rehabilitate the country and will aggravate the military situation in Syria.
For Iran, whose military forces were attacked by the US last week, a collaboration between Ankara and Washington could prove fatal.
As for Israel, Turkey's military progress would present the Jewish state with three choices: disengage from the Syrian civil war completely, provide partial assistance to Turkey, or take full part in the war.
One thing remains clear: the Syrian civil war continues to surprise not only the Middle East but the entire world.
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