Erdogan won’t allow dividing Syria, Netanyahu says got ceasefire by force

ANKARA: President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday Turkiye will not allow Syria to be divided or its multicultural structure and territorial integrity harmed, after Israel’s actions sought to “sabotage” a ceasefire in the country.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said Israel’s actions show it does not want peace. Earlier he spoke with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa about Israel’s attacks on Damascus.

He also said that said Israel was using the Druze minority in Syria as a pretext for expanding into the war-torn country.

“Israel, using the Druze as an excuse, has been expanding its banditry into neighbouring Syria over the past two days,” Erdogan said in a televised speech after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan and Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed Israel’s attacks on Damascus in a phone call on Thursday, Turkey’s presidency said, adding Erdogan had voiced support for Damascus.

Read more: Ceasefire reached in Sweida, Israel strikes Damascus

According to Reuters, the presidency said Erdogan told Sharaa that Israel’s attacks were unacceptable and a threat to the entire region, and Ankara welcomed a ceasefire reached with Syria’s Druze.

Sharaa thanked Erdogan for Turkey’s support in protecting Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, it added.

‘OBTAINED BY FORCE’

On the other hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said a ceasefire in Syria was “obtained by force”, after Israel struck military targets in Damascus in response to government troops attacking the Druze.

Read more: Israel attacks: France says strike on Gaza church ‘unacceptable’

“It is a ceasefire obtained by force. Not by demands, not by pleas — by force,” he said in a statement, AFP reported.

Netanyahu’s comments came after government troops began their pull-out from the Druze heartland province of Sweida in southern Syria on Wednesday evening.

In this connection, the defence ministry said Syrian soldiers began withdrawing from Druze-majority Sweida, hours after the announcement of a new ceasefire agreement in the violence-hit city.

The Syrian army “has begun withdrawing from the city of Sweida in implementation of the terms of the adopted agreement after the end of the sweep of the city for outlaw groups”, a defence ministry statement said, without mentioning the withdrawal of any other government security forces deployed to the city.

PROTECTING THE DRUZE

Also on Thursday, al-Sharaa said that protecting Druze citizens and their rights is “our priority”, as Israel vowed to destroy Syrian government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria.

In his first televised statement after powerful Israeli air strikes on Damascus on Wednesday, Sharaa addressed Druze citizens saying “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

However, AFP journalists reported from the provincial capital that Syrian troops pulled out of the Druze heartland province of Sweida on Thursday, leaving bodies strewn on the street.

The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.