Erdogan estimated the damage to Syria at $500 billion

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting with governors in Ankara on January 7 that the damage caused to Syria is $500 billion.

"The cost of 13 years of bloody policies exceeds $500 billion," the Daily Sabah newspaper quoted him as saying.

He said Turkish expert groups visiting the country have warned that the situation in the state is "worse than expected."

Erdogan emphasized that Syria will need time to recover and also pointed to the need for the international community to contribute to the process.

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The day before, the Turkish president said that the state is against the division of Syria and will take action if it sees a risk of its disintegration. He noted that the new Syrian government is trying to rebuild Syria on the basis of its territorial integrity and unity, which coincides with Turkey's aspirations.

At the same time, Hürriyet reported that the new Syrian leadership met with representatives of the PKK and demanded that it and other armed groups operating in the territory of the republic lay down their arms. The publication specified that this is important in order to prevent a civil war from breaking out again in Syria.

Ruslan Andreev, an expert of the Polylog Group and political consultant, noted in a conversation with Izvestia on January 3 that Syria is actually divided between several quasi-state entities, and this factor, together with the external influence of Turkey and Israel, may lead to the Arab republic breaking up into several separate territories. Nevertheless, the exact development of events cannot be predicted yet.

On December 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after negotiations with the opposition, left the post of the head of state and left the country, instructing to carry out the transfer of power peacefully.

The situation in Syria has escalated as a result of a major attack by armed groups in Aleppo and Idlib, which began on November 28, 2024 and led to retaliatory actions of the Syrian army against militants.