Turkey, the West monitoring unrest in Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday said his government wants to maintain the unity and integrity of Syria amid that country’s ongoing civil war. Erdogan blamed increasing turmoil elsewhere in the Middle East for sending Syria into spasms of violence over the past few days. Turkey wants to see Syria peacefully resolve its 13-year-old conflict with a solution that a majority of the country’s population supports, Erdogan said.

What’s been happening in Syria? Starting last week, the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham began seizing ground in a blitzkrieg advance focused largely on the city of Aleppo, Turkey’s Daily Sabah news organization reported. Meanwhile, other opposition groups seeking an end to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime gained ground in other areas of the country, the outlet reported.

Turkey’s foreign ministry on Saturday warned of increasing violence in Syria’s Idlib region, which sits against the Turkey-Syria border. The Daily Sabah reported that Russian jets assisted the Syrian central government in carrying out airstrikes on Sunday in the Idlib region.

What have Western governments said? U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday called Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss the situation. The same day, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom joined the United States in urging all parties in Syria to de-escalate and work to prevent civilian casualties.

Dig deeper: Read A.S. Ibrahim’s column in WORLD Opinions saying that Israel’s ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon may not last long.