Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish militants in Syria will either lay down their weapons or "be buried", amid hostilities between Turkey-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.

Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband and called on the US to stop supporting it.

Follow the latest on Syria The newly appointed Foreign Minister in Syria's interim government, Asaad Hassan Al Shibani, warned Tehran not to spread chaos in Syria and to respect the country's sovereignty and its people's will as Syria moves towards a new chapter in its relations with Iran.

ANKARA - The Turkish military killed 21 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq, the defence ministry said on Wednesday. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Turkey's foreign minister said after meeting Syria's de facto leader in Damascus on Sunday that there was no room for Kurdish militants in Syria's future, calling for the YPG militia to disband.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday said Syria's future is "hanging by a thread" as she called on Turkey to help stabilize the country during a visit to Ankara. "Syria must neither become a pawn of foreign powers nor an experiment by radical forces,

Syria's new leaders announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the country's rebel groups on their dissolution and integration under the defence ministry.

Turkey is planning to start negotiations with Syria to delineate maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.

Ankara's growing military presence in Syria has led to a diplomatic clash between former allies Israel and Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has supported Hamas, even hinting at some sort of armed intervention.

Turkey on Wednesday rejected US President-elect Donald Trump's claim that the rebel ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad was an "unfriendly takeover" by Ankara."Turkey did an unfriendly takeover,

Turkey's long-time relationship with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels had drawn little attention until recently -- but since the Islamists took over Syria, both sides have sought to profit from the ties, analysts say.

As actors with whom Turkey has developed close ties with over the years are poised to assume more influence and power in Damascus, Ankara is set to gain essential levers of influence in Syria. Before the fall of Assad, four key goals featured prominently ...