Turkey and Syria’s transitional government have signed a significant military agreement, with Ankara committing to reorganize the Syrian army and provide it with new weapons systems. The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced on August 14 that the pact is a comprehensive effort to bolster the offensive capabilities of its southern neighbor following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The memorandum, signed a day earlier in Ankara after months of negotiations, formalizes deep cooperation across multiple defense sectors. This includes joint planning for military training, intelligence sharing, procurement of military hardware, and collaborative programs in counter-terrorism, demining, cyber defense, and logistics. Turkish officials explicitly noted that the new Syrian army, formed from former anti-government militias, suffers from deficiencies in discipline and combat effectiveness, necessitating a complete structural overhaul.
This deal unfolds amid intense international scrutiny, particularly from the United States. Washington has been pressuring Damascus to purge its new army of individuals with jihadist backgrounds, fearing their inclusion will fuel further ethnoreligious conflict and deter autonomous regions, such as the Druze-majority south and the Kurdish-controlled northeast, from integrating into a unified Syria. As leverage, the U.S. has reportedly offered to assemble a coalition of international donors to fund the war-torn nation’s reconstruction.
The agreement also highlights the complex geopolitical balancing act facing Syria’s new leadership. According to regional experts, Damascus is striving to avoid over-reliance on any single foreign power, a lesson learned from the previous regime’s deep ties to Iran. A recent visit by Syrian defense and foreign ministers to Moscow is seen as a key part of this strategy, signaling an effort to maintain ties with multiple influential actors and counterbalance Turkey’s growing influence in the post-Assad era.
Other regional powers are watching closely. Israel and several Gulf states reportedly favor a continued Russian military presence in Syria as a check on Ankara’s ambitions, which they fear could turn Syria into a Turkish strategic buffer zone. By pushing the agreement through after the Syrian delegation’s visit to Russia, Ankara has asserted its leading role. The new Syrian government is thus caught in a familiar web of challenges, navigating external pressures and internal divisions as it attempts to rebuild a fractured state.