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.

Their meeting was the first since the former rebel leader led the offensive that last month toppled Syria’s former autocratic ruler, Bashar al-Assad.