Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa would meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Tuesday on his second official trip abroad since taking power.

The Turkish communications directorate announced on Monday.

The meeting would be held on Tuesday afternoon, according to the presidential palace in Ankara said.

Sources in the Syrian transitional government have confirmed that Mr al-Sharaa plans to visit Turkey following his trip to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Turkey is working rapidly to establish relations with Syria, as are Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Turkey aims to help with economic reconstruction after more than a decade of civil war and with supporting the Syrian military.

The ousting in early December of the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad by an Islamist-led alliance has considerably boosted Turkish influence in the region.

Russia and Iran had supported Mr Al-Assad.

Turkish-backed militias are continuing to battle Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria near the border between the two countries.

Ankara saw the Kurdish forces as terrorist organisations in league with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and is demanding their dissolution.

(dpa/NAN)