Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish militants in Syria will either lay down their weapons or "be buried", amid hostilities between Turkey-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.

Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband and called on the US to stop supporting it.

The Turkish military killed 21 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

Turkey's foreign minister said after meeting Syria's de facto leader in Damascus on Sunday that there was no room for Kurdish militants in Syria's future, calling for the YPG militia to disband.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday said Syria's future is "hanging by a thread" as she called on Turkey to help stabilize the country during a visit to Ankara. "Syria must neither become a pawn of foreign powers nor an experiment by radical forces,

Turkey is planning to start negotiations with Syria to delineate maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.

Syria's new leaders announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the country's rebel groups on their dissolution and integration under the defence ministry.

Turkey on Wednesday rejected US President-elect Donald Trump's claim that the rebel ouster of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad was an "unfriendly takeover" by Ankara."Turkey did an unfriendly takeover,

Turkey's long-time relationship with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels had drawn little attention until recently -- but since the Islamists took over Syria, both sides have sought to profit from the ties, analysts say.

Turkey has launched series of military operations in northern Syria with the goal of securing its southern border from Kurdish forces and establishing a 'safe zone' for Syrian refugees.

Assad’s ouster has raised urgent questions about the 2,000 troops who serve as a bulwark against ISIS and Iran.

As actors with whom Turkey has developed close ties with over the years are poised to assume more influence and power in Damascus, Ankara is set to gain essential levers of influence in Syria. Before the fall of Assad, four key goals featured prominently ...