BRUSSELS: Turkiye wants no confrontation with Israel in Syria after repeated Israeli attacks on military sites there undermined the new government’s ability to deter threats, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Friday.
In an interview on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Fidan said Israel’s actions in Syria — where the administration of President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is a close Turkish ally — were paving the way for future regional instability.
If the new administration in Damascus wants to have “certain understandings” with Israel, which like Turkiye is a neighbor of Syria, then that is their own business, he added.
NATO member Turkiye has fiercely criticized Israel over its attacks on Gaza since 2023, saying they amount to a genocide against the Palestinians, and has applied to join a case at the World Court against Israel while also halting all trade.
Israel denies the genocide accusations.
The animosity between the regional powers has spilled over into Syria, with Israeli forces striking Syria for weeks since a new administration took control in Damascus. Turkiye has called the Israeli strikes an encroachment on Syrian territories, while Israel has said it would not allow any hostile forces in Syria.
Asked about US President Donald Trump’s threats of military strikes against Iran, Fidan said diplomacy was needed to resolve the dispute and that Ankara did not want to see any attack taking place against its neighbor Iran.
Turkiye wants no confrontation with Israel in Syria, foreign minister says
https://arab.news/wcwmx
Turkiye wants no confrontation with Israel in Syria, foreign minister says
- Fidan said Israel’s actions in Syria were paving the way for future regional instability
- If the new administration in Damascus wants to have “certain understandings” with Israel, then that is their own business, he added
Iran president says will not halt nuclear activity ‘under any circumstances’
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity “under any circumstances” amid ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.
“We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances,” said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Cyprus police arrest man on spying, terror charges
- Police declined to provide extensive details, citing “national security,“
- Local media said the suspect was seen acting suspiciously near a British air force base at Akrotiri
NICOSIA: Cyprus police said they arrested an individual on espionage and terror charges on Saturday, with local media reporting the suspect had ties to Iran.
Police declined to provide extensive details, citing “national security,” but local media said the suspect was seen acting suspiciously near a British air force base at Akrotiri, outside the southern coastal city of Limassol.
Cypriot news outlet Philenews reported the man had links to “Iranian operatives” and had arrived on the Mediterranean island last month posing as a British tourist.
It said the arrest in Limassol on Saturday was based on information from a foreign intelligence service.
“Following a coordinated operation today, an individual suspected of involvement in terrorism-related offenses was arrested,” said a brief police announcement.
The suspect appeared before a district court and was issued an eight-day remand order for “offenses related, among others, to terrorism and espionage,” the police statement added.
Philenews said high-resolution cameras, telephoto lenses, notes, computers and three mobile phones were discovered at the suspect’s apartment.
It described the suspect as being of Azeri descent, referring to an ethnic group present in Azerbaijan and northwest Iran.
The outlet also reported that two people believed to be linked to the case were arrested in Britain.
The British foreign and defense ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thanks to its location in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus has become a key transit hub for third-country nationals fleeing the region since the recent outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran.
It has also become a staging post for Israelis seeking to return home by air or sea after being stranded abroad by the start of the fighting.
IAEA says centrifuge workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site hit
- “There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi said
VIENNA: The UN nuclear agency confirmed on Saturday that a centrifuge manufacturing workshop at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site had been hit, in the latest strike amid Israel’s bombing campaign.
“A centrifuge manufacturing workshop has been hit in Esfahan, the third such facility that has been targeted in Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear-related sites over the past week,” the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement quoting its chief Rafael Grossi.
“We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” Grossi was quoted as saying.
Turkiye says Israel leading Middle East to ‘total disaster’
- “Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster,” Fidan said
- He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran
ISATANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of leading the Middle East toward “total disaster” by attacking Iran on June 13.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbor,” he told a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.
“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem,” Fidan said.
He called for an end to the “unlimited aggression” against Iran.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating into a spiral of violence that would further jeopardize regional and global security,” he added.
Speaking after Fidan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.
He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”
“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry — not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC’s 57 member countries.
The OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”
Iran says more than 400 killed since start of war with Israel
- Attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded
TEHRAN: Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people since they began last week, Iran’s health ministry said in an updated toll on Saturday, as fighting raged between the two foes.
“As of this morning, Israeli attacks have claimed the lives of over 400 defenseless Iranians and left 3,056 others wounded by missiles and drones,” health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour said in a post on X.
