ANKARA (Reuters) - 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. NATO member Turkey is now in a position to influence its neighbour's future diplomatically, economically and militarily.

By Jonathan Spicer, Tuvan Gumrukcu and Maya Gebeily ISTANBUL/DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Negotiators are zeroing in on a potential deal to resolve one of the most explosive questions looming over Syria's future: the fate of Kurdish forces that the U.

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).

Post-Assad Syria will never allow its territory to be used as a staging ground for threats against Turkey, its top diplomat said on January 16 after talks in Ankara. The commitment was a clear reference to Syrian Kurdish forces who,

Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration accused Turkey of killing four civilians in the Manbij area, where clashes have raged for weeks over control of a strategic dam.

The pro-Ankara groups succeeded in capturing Kurdish-held Manbij city and Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province, despite US-led efforts to establish a truce in the Manbij area. The fighting has continued since, with hundreds of people killed, mostly fighters.

Syria’s new government has strongly condemned Israel’s incursions into a U.N.-monitored buffer zone, urging the international community to pressure Israel into withdrawing.

A rightist ally of President Erdogan, Devlet Bahceli of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party, this week openly questioned Greece’s sovereignty over the islands of the southeastern Aegean. In so doing Mr. Bahceli challenges the provisions of international laws and agreements such as the 1923 Lausanne Treaty.

The appointment of trustees and other attacks on democratic rights by the government show that the renewed negotiations between Ankara and the PKK, which Ankara has been trying to suppress for 40 years,

Turkey has offered military assistance and capacity-building support to the new Syrian military to combat “terrorist groups”, during an unprecedented visit by a high-level Syrian delegation led by the new Syrian foreign minister to Ankara on Wednesday.

President Tayyip Erdogan warned on Wednesday that Turkey had the power and ability to "crush" all terrorists in Syria, including Islamic State and Kurdish militants, while urging all countries to "take their hands off" Syria.

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.