Syria’s new interim leader, meeting on Tuesday with the president of Turkey, thanked him for backing the rebel forces that toppled the Assad dictatorship and said he now sought

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa invited Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to visit Syria soon in a joint press conference in Ankara on Tuesday, as relations between the two countries thaw under the new Syrian administration.

The senior regional intelligence official, the Syrian security official and one of the Damascus-based foreign security sources said the bases under discussion would allow Turkey to defend Syria's air space in case of any future attacks.