Turkish deputy foreign minister stressed Saturday that Israel is acting as a "strategic destabilizer" in the region and is benefiting from the situation.
"Türkiye, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan will come together to establish an operational center and will work toward resolving the security issues in the region," Nuh Yilmaz said during the "Syria: A Country Reconciling and Rebuilding," panel as part of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.
Yilmaz described "deconfliction mechanism" talks between Israeli and Turkish delegations in Azerbaijan as a "technical" meeting.
"It was not a diplomatic meeting between diplomats. This is a mechanism aimed at preventing conflict," he said. "It's a good start because we are trying to prevent any clashes in Syrian airspace."
"In order to see better relations or normalization with Israel, we need to witness an end to the genocide in Gaza and the establishment of a ceasefire," Yilmaz noted.
The UN special envoy for Syria stressed the need to immediately halt Israel's destabilizing attacks on Syrian territory to make progress in the country.
"Israel needs to stop what it's currently doing; it's playing with fire. This further destabilizes an already fragile situation," said Geir Pedersen.
He said Syria needs the support of the international community to achieve success.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, argued that the US and the CIA are responsible for the situation in Syria and wider regional conflicts.
He claimed that peace would not be possible unless real diplomacy is conducted and "CIA operations are brought to an end."
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said 3 million people in Syria are suffering food insecurity, but the agency is only able to provide assistance to 1.5 million.
