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Turkey seeks Saudi Arabia and UAE support for new Syria

The dramatic collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria within just 11 days shocked the world and positioned Turkey as a key player in shaping the country's future.

However, Turkish officials in Ankara remain cautious. They are determined not to repeat the mistakes made during the Arab Spring of the 2010s, which engulfed the region in chaos.

They also recognise the need for support from regional allies and western powers to stabilise Syria, a nation of 20 million people. Ankara has not forgotten the risks of the past, such as Syria potentially devolving into a fragmented state like Libya, where warring factions divided the country, or following the path of Egypt, where a brief democratic experiment was crushed by a military coup within a year.

Read more: Turkey seeks Saudi Arabia and UAE support for new Syria

This handout image provided by the Turkish Presidency Press Office shows UAE's President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (L) receiving Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Abu Dhabi on July 19, 2023. (Handout / AFP)