Ankara
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, May 01, rejected any initiative that could compromise Syria’s territorial integrity, reaffirming Ankara’s longstanding position on the issue.
A source from the ministry told Reuters, “We do not accept any initiative that targets Syria’s territorial integrity or affects its sovereignty.” The source further emphasised that Turkey does not accept any initiative in Syria that allows the carrying of weapons outside the central authority.
The source noted that Ankara had given Damascus the necessary space to address its concerns regarding Kurdish militants, in reference to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which currently controls areas in northern and eastern Syria.
In response to the situation, Asaad al-Shaibani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Transitional Government, said that any call for external intervention, regardless of its pretext or slogan, only leads to further deterioration and division. “The experiences of the region and the world are testimony to the heavy cost that people paid as a result of external interventions, which are often built at the expense of national interests,” he said.
Read more: Israel Expands Military Base in Southern Syria
Al-Shibani added that those who advocate for such interventions bear a “historical, moral and political responsibility before the Syrians and history,” warning that the consequences extend beyond immediate devastation to “decades of disintegration, weakness and division.”
This follows a call made on the same day by the spiritual leader of Syria’s Unitarian Druze community, Hikmat al-Hijri, who appealed for international protection amid what he described as “massacres committed against civilians.”
“Requesting international protection is a legitimate right for a people destroyed by massacres,” al-Hijri said in a statement. “We ask the international community, with all its organisations, bodies and institutions, not to ignore the massacres and horrors being committed against our people.”
He accused members of the administration of being “tools of bloody killing, kidnapping, and falsifying facts,” and of operating with a sectarian ideology that labels minorities as infidels, adding that even moderate Sunnis do believe in them.
Calling the violence a “systematic mass killing,” al-Hijri said the crimes are well-documented and do not require investigative committees like those previously formed to probe incidents in Syria’s coastal region. Instead, he called for immediate international intervention to stop the violence and restore peace.
“This is an urgent appeal to protect a defenceless people,” he continued. “We are living the same experience as our people on the coast, and we ask for quick and direct international aid. The killing of innocent civilians has escalated over the past two days.”
Al-Hijri’s remarks came after violent clashes erupted in the towns of Sahnaya and Ashrafieh Sahnaya, located in the southern Damascus countryside and predominantly inhabited by Druze communities. Armed groups and local factions engaged in fighting that resulted in casualties before the Syrian Transitional Government’s Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior’s Public Security forces intervened and regained control of both towns.
