The leaders ofAzerbaijanandSyriaon Saturday pledged to deepen their cooperation particularly in the energy sector, as they moved to revitalize the ties that had been strained under former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that the visit to Baku bySyria's interim Ahmad Al-Sharaa,whose rebel forces toppled Assad in December, would "significantly contribute to the development of bilateral relations." Al-Sharaa thanked Aliyev for Azerbaijan's "brotherly support to Syria" and said that Assad's government had harmed relations with many countries, including Azerbaijan, according to the Azerbaijan president's press service. The leaders also highlighted plans to to export Azerbaijani gas to Syria via Turkey and Azerbaijan's potential role in rebuilding Syria's energy infrastructure, it said. The new authorities in Damascus have strong relations with Turkey, Azerbaijan's close ally. Baku — which also has close relations with Israel — has in recent months served as an intermediary to diffuse growing tensions between Turkey and Israel in the Syrian arena. In April,Turkey and Israelheld "technical talks" in Azerbaijan to establish a "de-escalation mechanism to prevent undesirable incidents in Syria."
