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DAMASCUS: Turkiye will provide 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Syria each year, Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.
In a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus, Bayraktar said that Turkiye’s gas exports to Syria will contribute to an additional 1,300 megawatts of electricity production in the country.
Ankara, which supported rebel forces in neighboring Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended this month with the ousting of Bashar Assad, is now positioning itself to play a major role in Syria’s reconstruction.
Turkiye will also provide an additional 1,000 megawatts of electricity to neighboring Syria for its short term needs, he added.
Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed Al-Bashir said they agreed to activate a gas pipeline that connects Syria with Turkiye, with gas flows expected in June.
“This will significantly boost electricity generation, which will positively impact the Syrian people’s electricity needs,” Al-Bashir said.
The two minister discussed completing a 400-kilovolt line that links the countries, contributing to importing around 500 megawatts of electricity into Syria, to be ready by the end of the year or shortly thereafter, he added.
Cooperation also includes opening the door for Turkish companies to invest in mining, phosphate, electricity generation and electricity distribution in Syria.
“There is very intensive work underway regarding the discovery of new natural resources, whether gas or oil, on land or at sea,” Bayraktar said. (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa in Damascus and Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Louise Heavens)

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday his pick for the next head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, defying the country’s attorney general and a significant segment of the public.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet,” a statement from the premier’s office said.
The decision is the latest development in a long-running controversy surrounding the role, which has seen mass protests against the incumbent chief’s dismissal, as well as against moves pushed by Netanyahu’s government to expand elected officials’ power to appoint judges.
The supreme court on Wednesday ruled the government’s decision to fire current domestic security chief Ronen Bar was “improper and unlawful.”
Netanyahu’s move to tap Zini to replace Bar directly defied Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had said that, given the court ruling, the premier “must refrain from any action related to the appointment of a new head of the Shin Bet.”
Netanyahu immediately responded in a rare press conference that his government would make an appointment despite Baharav-Miara’s stance.
Following Thursday’s announcement, the attorney general released a statement saying that the prime minister was acting “contrary to legal guidance.”
“There is serious concern that he acted while in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed,” the statement said.
Zini, the son of immigrants from France and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, has held “many” operational and command positions in the Israeli military, Thursday’s announcement said, including for some elite units and combat brigades.
The announcement comes after more than two months of political and legal wrangling over who should head the powerful agency.
In March, Netanyahu said that he was dismissing Bar due to “ongoing lack of trust.”