Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/syria-insurgents-aleppo-iran-iraq-militia-12341a6c15a772e207a1b5513c11f8fd
The Syrian civil war has raged on for 12 years, however recently there has been more of an advance in opposition by fighters in Syria. The Syrian rebels have launched a lightening offensive to capture almost all of Aleppo, the countries largest city. With that news the Turkeish foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan stated that the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, must reconcile with his own people while maintaining conversation with the opposition, on Monday, December 2, 2024. Because of these new advances Turkey and Iran, whom are supporters of opposing sides in this war, agreed at a joint news conference in Ankara to resume diplomatic efforts to calm tensions in the area along with the help of Russia. These recent attacks have brought prospects of another violent front reopening in the Middle East. Fadan has said that the reason these flare ups have resurged is due to the Syrian Governments lack of communication with the opposition, something Turkey and Iran are aiming to fix.
Turkey supports the insurgents, however all of Assad’s allies, Iran and Russia, are preoccupied with their own conflicts so the Syrian government has little help at the moment (although Irananian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, did visit Domascus before Ankara to show they’re support to the government). Instead of using this opportunity to take down the Syrian government, Turkey has insisted on Damascus’s reconciliation with their people and the opposition stating that, “Turkey is ready to make all the necessary contribution toward this.” Recently the efforts of reconciliation had slowed so these attacks could be aimed to pressure the Syrian government to pick the pace back up. However Syria has insisted that Turkey must withdrawal from Northern Syria for this to continue.
Relating this back to class, Turkey has national interest in creating good ties and less conflict with Syria. They could help with deffense from their recent security threats from groups of kurdish militants along their Southern border if they are less distracted with their own civil war. Therefore seizing this opportunity to create ties with Syria is a smart and tactical move. They could have acted to take out a state that they had never really been friendly with before (which would be something most constructivists would predict), but instead Turkey working around their differences to find security in a prospective ally, a more liberalist outlook. Using their ties with the rebelling group in Syria to apply pressure on the Syrian government is also a form of hard power by indirect military force, another connection to class.