He is due to meet with the new interim Syrian Prime Minister, Muhammad Bashir, as well as with rebel leader Ahmad Shaar.
The head of the Turkish secret service MIT Ibrahim Kalin is in the Syrian capital Damascus. Two unnamed sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. The news was also confirmed by the Syrian Ministry of Information, according to which the head of Qatar’s state security Khalfán al-Kaabi also arrived in Damascus. They should negotiate with the Syrian rebels about the country’s new government.
Both are due to meet with Syria’s new interim prime minister, Muhammad Bashir, as well as rebel leader Ahmad Shaar, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, once linked to al-Qaida, is now the most powerful entity in the country.
In the meantime, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the report of the Syrian Ministry, according to which Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also supposed to be in Damascus. The department said that the head of diplomacy has work duties in Ankara, including a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday and a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday.
First visit
Kalin’s visit is the first ever visit of a high-ranking foreign official to Damascus since the overthrow of long-time Syrian President Bashar Assad by rebels on Sunday, Reuters reminds. MIT’s Turkish Secret Service did not immediately comment on it.
Several Turkish media published a video recording of Kalina in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus with numerous security guards. A Reuters correspondent reported that there was a crowd of people at the site and security measures had been tightened.
At the end of November, Syrian rebels led by the HTC launched an unexpected offensive against the regime of long-time Syrian President Bashar Assad. In quick succession, they occupied large cities such as Aleppo, Deir ez-Zour, Hama and Homs, and at the end of the lightning offensive, they also conquered Damascus on the night of December 8 and overthrew Assad, who fled to Moscow. The overthrow of the regime ended the 13-year civil war in Syria, as well as the half-century rule of the Assads.
