ISTANBUL, July 20. /TASS/. The situation in Syria was the focus of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s phone call with US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Sheibani, sources in the Turkish foreign ministry told TASS.
"During the talks, the sides discussed the developments in Syria and assessed the Amman negotiations on the situation in southern Syria," they said.
According to earlier reports, Amman hosted talks between the top Jordanian and Syrian diplomats and the US envoy for Syria. They discussed measures to enhance stability in Syria’s Sweida governorate following the recent clashes there.
Syrian interior ministry spokesman Nour Eddin Al-Baba said in the early hours on Sunday that armed clashes in the city of Sweida had ceased completely. On Saturday, Syrian Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced an immediate ceasefire in the Sweida province to end clashes between militias and Druze self-defense forces. The ceasefire was announced in accordance with the reconciliation plan, drafted with the help of international mediators.
The situation in Syria aggravated on July 13 when clashes between Arab tribal militias and Druze self-defense groups broke out in the heavily Druze-populated Sweida governorate. On July 15, the Syrian army entered the governorate’s administrative center, the city of Sweida, and launched a mop-up operation to restore order. Shortly after, Israel began delivering airstrikes on Syrian army convoys, claiming that the operation was geared to protect the Druze population. On July 16, Israel hit a number of strategic targets in Damascus.