With strings attached — that is how almost all the recent foreign aid and assistance into Syria should be seen. After the December 2024 rebel offensive that toppled the country's decades-long Assad family dictatorship, various neighboring states have stepped in to help Syria recover from 14 years of brutal civil war.

There is a lot of vaunted talk of humanitarian assistance, Arab unity, international development and regional security. But as in any other diplomatic sphere, most of the countries involved are also acting in their own self-interest. So, what are they doing in Syria and why?

Turkey has often been described as the "biggest winner" after the ousting of the Assad regime in a lightning offensive led by the rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.

"The [HTS] group had long cultivated a close working relationship with Ankara because the rebels controlled Idlib, a province on the Turkish border in northern Syria," Asli Aydintasbas, a senior policy fellow and expert on Turkey at the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR, explained recently.

HTS has gone on to form an interim government, keeping some of the most powerful ministries — such as defense, foreign affairs and interior — for its own members or close associates. This puts the Turkish government, with existing ties to HTS, in a powerful position.

"Turkey, first and foremost, in the mid- and long term, is interested in the stabilization of Syria," Sinem Adar, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It doesn't want a failed state at its........

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