Turkey and Israel Aim to Avoid Clashes in Syria as Tensions Rise

Turkey and Israel have started talks to prevent conflicts between their troops in Syria, as an Israeli military campaign and a growing rivalry for influence have raised tensions.

The Turkish and Israeli governments said in statements that a meeting took place on Wednesday in Azerbaijan. The meeting between military and security officials was aimed at working out a way “to prevent undesired incidents in Syria,” a Turkish Defense Ministry statement said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the two sides had agreed to keep up a dialogue.

The meeting came just ahead of a planned visit by Syria’s new leader, President Ahmed al-Shara, to Turkey on Friday to discuss security and military cooperation, Syrian television reported.

A rebel coalition, led by Mr. al-Shara and backed by Turkey, overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December, forcing Mr. Assad’s main allies, Russia and Iran, largely to withdraw. In the resulting power vacuum, Israel and Turkey have been competing for influence. The rivalry is adding to the instability in Syria, where the new government is struggling, under pressure from regional powers, to stabilize a country divided and wounded after 13 years of civil war.

Turkey has long occupied parts of northern Syria in support of the opposition fighting the Assad regime, as well as to combat Kurdish rebels that it calls a terrorist threat to its own forces. Turkey recently offered to train a new Syrian army and to upgrade Syria’s army bases and airports, analysts say, though Syria has not publicly confirmed its acceptance of the offer.

After the fall of Mr. al-Assad, Israel moved troops into a long-established buffer zone along the Golan Heights, and then beyond it, occupying parts of southern Syria and carrying out hundreds of bombing raids against Syrian military depots and bases.