Turkey has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad last month, ending his family's brutal five-decade rule.

Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party said it will send a delegation to meet Abdullah Ocalan, head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in jail on Wednesday for a second time as part of a political effort to end a decades-long conflict.

Assad, Turkey has become a vital power broker in Syria, with significant diplomatic, economic, and military influence. The country aims to leverage this to strengthen trade, cooperation, and address national security concerns related to Kurdish groups along its border.

No country has as much to gain from a stable Syria as Turkey, and few have as much to lose if it implodes. Turkey is home to more than 3m Syrian refugees, and wants Syria to be safe enough for many to return.

As it became increasingly clear that Syrians were not imminently leaving Turkey, the Turkish government formalized the Temporary Protection Regulation in 2014. It allowed Syrian nationals access to the Turkish education and health care systems and laid the groundwork for them to pursue employment if they could secure work permits.

Commercial flights between Turkey and Syria resumed Thursday after 13 years, with a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Damascus.

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad has led to a face-off between Turkey and Israel in Syria, where both countries have deployed forces. Relations between Turkey and the Jewish state were already strained over the Gaza war,

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that the new Syrian administration should be given an opportunity to address the presence of Kurdish militants in the country, and reiterated that the Turkish military would act if it did not.

The new administration’s first visit to Ankara comes amid an intensifying struggle for the partition of Syria between the states behind the overthrow of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by jihadists led by the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Turkey is allowing one adult per Syrian family to return after visiting their homeland, but experts warn that easing restrictions may not lead to significant refugee returns amid ongoing uncertainties in Syria.

Syria's central bank has ordered commercial banks to freeze all accounts tied to people and companies linked to the ousted regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, according to a document seen by Reuters and people familiar with the decision.

Syria 's interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has called Israel 's advances on his country's territory unacceptable, though he denied there would be any conflict. The Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader made the comments on Thursday as Israel continued to deepen its control in territory in southern Syria.