President Trump met Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with Syria's interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, highlighting the stunning reversal in fortunes for a former Islamist militant with ties to al Qaeda who spent years with a U.

After decades of insurgency, the PKK plans to disarm and disband. Although skepticism still remains over Kurdish gains, lasting peace, and implications for affiliated groups in Syria.

Sharaa, earlier known as Abu Mohammed al Joulani, had been imprisoned at Abu Ghraib as a member of the Iraqi ISIS faction. Trump describes

For Turkey, peace with the PKK now would further reduce a weakened Iran’s ability to project power westward. Some groups suspected of being affiliated with the PKK, such as the Sinjar Resistance Units in northern Iraq, have been indirectly supported by Iran.

In December, a consortium of rebel factions led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham unexpectedly toppled the dictator Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for five decades. The new regime in Damascus inherited a country ruined by a 13-year civil war.

“When we briefly summarize the problems Syria is currently facing, there is the issue of Israeli expansionism. This has truly reached a point where it threatens Syria’s stability, security, and future,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, flanked by his Jordanian and Syrian counterparts, Ayman Safadi and Asaad al-Shibani.

Five months after its liberation from the police state of Bashar al-Assad, Syria sometimes looks like a country in civil war. Sectarian clashes have turned into street battles with rockets and mortars.

Jordan and Turkey on Monday denounced Israel's intervention in Syria as destabilising to the country, amid regional changes caused by the fall of Bashar Al Assad's regime last year. Since Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) took power in Damascus,

A top official says Turkey is closely monitoring any attempts to undermine its peace initiative with the PKK following the militant Kurdish group’s announcement that it is ending its decades-long armed conflict with the Turkish state.

An end to U.S. sanctions on Syria is expected to mark a new era for an economy devastated by 13 years of war, opening the way for investment flows from the Syrian diaspora, Turkey, and Gulf states that back the new government.