People wave flags in celebration while standing on an old city wall after thousands of people participated in the first Friday prayer after performing the first Friday prayer since the fall of the Assad regime at the Umayyad Mosque on December 13, 2024 in Damascus, Syria.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday told Turkey it was “imperative” to work against a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The top U.S. diplomat also said he saw “encouraging signs” on reaching a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

His remarks came on the second leg of a whirlwind regional tour following Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in a lightning offensive spearheaded by Islamist-led HTS rebels, ending five decades of repressive rule by his clan.

He flew to Turkey on Thursday evening where he met for more than an hour with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Ankara airport, a US official said.

“Our country worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS (IS), to ensure that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said.

“And it’s imperative we keep at those efforts.”

In response, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Blinken Turkey was committed to ensuring stability in Syria “as soon as possible” and “preventing ISIS” jihadists from gaining a foothold there.

On Thursday, Erdogan assured Blinken Turkey would never ease up in the fight against IS in Syria, despite its operations against Kurdish fighters seen as key to containing the extremists.

“Turkey will never allow any weakness to arise in the fight against ISIS,” Erdogan said while vowing not to let up in its pursuit of groups Ankara sees as a threat to its national security.

Divisions over Kurdish-led SDF

As the Islamist-led rebels marched on Damascus, Turkey and its proxies began their own offensive against the Kurdish-led SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces).

Turkey sees the SDF as an extension of the banned PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) that has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.

But Washington sees the force as a key ally for spearheading an offensive that defeated IS’s self-declared caliphate in Syria in 2019, with Blinken saying Thursday the SDF was “critical” to preventing a jihadist resurgence there.

The fighting between the two proxy forces has raised concern about the NATO allies’ competing interests in Syria.

Faik Bulut, an expert on the Kurdish question, told AFP Turkey was likely seeking “to take advantage of the vacuum to cleanse the region” of Kurdish fighters.

That way Erdogan could “be in a position of strength” during talks with incoming US president Donald Trump, he assessed.

With Turkey’s own powerful military, control over its Syrian proxy forces and influence over the HTS rebels that ousted Assad, Erdogan could likely tell Trump: “‘Hand this region to me and I will destroy ISIS. Give me responsibility and you’ll see’,” Balut said.

‘Encouraging signs’ of Gaza truce

Blinken also said he saw “encouraging signs” of progress toward a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, urging Turkey to use its influence to encourage Hamas to accept.

“We discussed Gaza, and we discussed I think the opportunity… to get a ceasefire in place. And what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks are more encouraging signs that that is possible,” Blinken said.

Blinken, who leaves office next month following Trump’s election victory, began his tour in Jordan on Thursday on his 12th visit to the Middle East since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

“We talked about the imperative of Hamas saying ‘yes’ to the agreement that’s possible, to finally help bring this to an end,” he said.

“We appreciate very much the role Turkey can play in using its voice with Hamas to try to bring this to conclusion.”

Turkey has long had close ties with Hamas, viewing it as a national liberation movement rather than a proscribed terror organisation like most Western nations.

A blistering critic of Israel, Erdogan has frequently hosted Hamas’ political leaders who have used Istanbul as one of their foreign bases during his two-decade rule.

Britain, Germany, France, Italy and several other European countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad.

While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments in the war-ravaged nation, Austria signalled it would soon deport refugees back to Syria.

Far-right politicians elsewhere made similar demands, including in Germany — home to Europe’s largest Syrian community — at a time when immigration has become a hot-button issue across the continent.

Alice Weidel, of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, reacted with disdain to Sunday’s mass rallies by jubilant Syrians celebrating Assad’s downfall.

“Anyone in Germany who celebrates ‘free Syria’ evidently no longer has any reason to flee,” she wrote on X. “They should return to Syria immediately.”

World leaders and Syrians abroad watched in disbelief at the weekend as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus, ending Assad’s brutal rule while also sparking new uncertainty.

A German foreign ministry spokesman pointed out that “the fact that the Assad regime has been ended is unfortunately no guarantee of peaceful developments” in the future.

Germany has taken in almost one million Syrians, with most arriving in 2015-16 under ex-chancellor Angela Merkel.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said many Syrian refugees “now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland” but cautioned that “the situation in Syria is currently very unclear”.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had imposed a freeze on decisions for ongoing asylum procedures “until the situation is clearer”.

She added that “concrete possibilities of return cannot yet be predicted and it would be unprofessional to speculate in such a volatile situation”.

Rights group Amnesty International slammed Germany’s freeze on asylum decisions, stressing that for now “the human rights situation in the country is completely unclear”.

The head of the UN refugee agency also cautioned that “patience and vigilance” were needed on the issue of refugee returns.

‘Repatriation and deportation’

In Austria, where about 100,000 Syrians live, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer instructed the interior ministry “to suspend all ongoing Syrian asylum applications and to review all asylum grants”.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner added he had “instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly repatriation and deportation programme to Syria”.

“The political situation in Syria has changed fundamentally and, above all, rapidly in recent days,” the ministry said, adding it is “currently monitoring and analysing the new situation”.

The French interior ministry said it too would put asylum requests from Syrians on hold, with authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway announcing similar moves.

Britain’s interior ministry said it was taking the same measure “whilst we assess the current situation”.

The Italian government said late Monday after a cabinet meeting that it too was suspending asylum request “in line with other European partners.”

The leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, a coalition partner in the government, said residence permits for Syrian refugees should now be “reviewed”.

“Destructive Islamist forces are behind the change of power” in Syria, wrote their leader Jimmie Akesson on X.

“I see that groups are happy about this development here in Sweden. You should see it as a good opportunity to go home.”

In Greece, a government spokesman voiced hope that Assad’s fall will eventually allow “the safe return of Syrian refugees” to their country, but without announcing concrete measures.

‘Populist and irresponsible’

In Germany, the debate gained momentum as the country heads towards February elections.

Achim Brotel, president of a grouping of German communes, called for border controls to stop fleeing Assad loyalists reaching Germany.

The centre-right opposition CDU suggested that rejected Syrian asylum-seekers should now lose so-called subsidiary protection.

“If the reason for protection no longer applies, then refugees will have to return to their home country,” CDU legislator Thorsten Frei told Welt TV.

CDU MP Jens Spahn suggested that Berlin charter flights to Syria and offer 1,000 euros ($1,057) to “anyone who wants to return”.

A member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats criticised the debate as “populist and irresponsible”.

Greens party deputy Anton Hofreiter also said “it is completely unclear what will happen next in Syria” and deportation talk was “completely out of place”.

Many Syrians in Germany have watched the events in their home country with great joy but prefer to wait and see before deciding whether to return.

“We want to go back to Syria,” said Mahmoud Zaml, 25, who works in an Arabic pastry shop in Berlin, adding that he hopes to help “rebuild” his country.

“But we have to wait a bit now,” he told AFP. “We have to see what happens and if it is really 100 percent safe, then we will go back to Syria.”

Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian state news agencies are reporting that ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad has arrived in Moscow with his family and given asylum.

FOLLOW MORE: Syria war LIVE updates: Jubilation and gunfire on streets of Syria, as Assad flees marking end of family’s half-century rule

The agencies, Tass and RIA, cited an unidentified Kremlin source. The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the reports but has contacted the Kremlin for comment.

RIA also cited an anonymous Kremlin source that Moscow had received guarantees from Syrian insurgents of the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic posts in Syria. The report did not give further details.

Assad reportedly left Syria early Sunday.