Wary foes Turkey and Syria hold covert contacts to avoid conflict

FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers pray before the flag-wrapped coffin of their comrade Sefa Findik, who was killed in the military operation in northeast Syria, during a ceremony at the GAP Airport in Sanliurfa, Turkey, October 20, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is holding covert contacts with Syria's government to avert direct conflict in northeast Syria where both sides have deployed their armies, Turkish officials say, despite Ankara's long-standing hostility to President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan backs rebels who fought to topple Assad during Syria's eight-year civil war. He described Assad as a terrorist and called for him to be driven from power, something which earlier in the war appeared possible.