PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Albert Ramdin, secretary general of the Organization of American States, said Wednesday during a trip to Haiti that the country needs help fighting gangs and seizing back territory as it prepares to hold general elections for the first time in more than a decade.
Ramdin spoke as he concluded a trip to the troubled Caribbean country, where he met with the prime minister and other officials.
He said the new U.N.-backed gang suppression force needs more personnel, equipment and funding.
“The efforts of the (force) are essential to improving security and public safety, and to creating the conditions for a safe electoral process,” he said. “Progress must be visible and measurable as soon as possible.”
Ramdin said priorities are securing the main route to the main international airport; ensuring ongoing access to the airport and seaport; and restoring safe access to Haiti’s southern region. Gangs currently control the main routes leading in and out of the capital.
He also called on Haiti to step up registration and identification of voters ahead of the Dec. 13 general elections. Haiti hasn’t had a president since Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence in July 2021. Since then, gang violence has only surged, displacing a record 1.5 million people.
Ramdin promised to keep “mobilizing political, technical and financial support” for the Caribbean country.
He said the OAS will work with the Pan American Health Organization to build trauma centers to treat wounded Haitian police officers as they continue to push back against gangs that control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and swaths of land beyond the capital.
Ramdin said he also plans to set up a delegation of business leaders to talk about potential investment projects in Haiti, where poverty, hunger and unemployment are deepening.
“Haiti is at a decisive point,” he said. “The future of Haiti belongs first and foremost to the Haitian people. But the international community also has responsibilities.”
A man carries a buckets of water where families displaced by gang violence are living in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Haiti's Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, far right, Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, second from right, and CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett greet senior police officials at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Turkish delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria the day before it was hit by Israeli airstrikes, Syrian officials said.
The Israeli strikes hit the Abu Duhur base early Tuesday, hours after the delegation had left, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel had attacked the base because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreed-upon “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.
Two Syrian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly said the Turkish delegation had visited the air base in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday to review rehabilitation work underway at the facility.
It was the first confirmation of a Turkish presence at the Abu Duhur base.
Turkish and Syrian officials have not publicly commented on Turkey's role there but have condemned the attack, as did Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey who also serves as special envoy to Syria, and a number of Arab countries.
Turkish officials on Wednesday did not comment on the reported presence of a Turkish military delegation. But Turkey’s communications directorate accused Netanyahu of making “untenable allegations ... intended to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” It alleged that Netanyahu aimed “to pursue expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region ahead of the elections in Israel.”
Turkey “will resolutely continue to cooperate with the Syrian Government on a legitimate basis for the establishment of peace, stability, and prosperity in Syria, and will never allow the destabilization of Syria,” it said.
The Abu Duhur air base lies at a strategic location near the borders between Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces. During the time of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was ousted by a rebel offensive in December 2024, MiG-23 and MiG-21 fighter jets and L-39 aircraft operated out of the base.
Turkey has been supporting Syria’s effort to rebuild its armed forces by training Syrian personnel at Turkish military schools and bases, and by supplying equipment and logistical support. Officials have not disclosed the types of equipment involved. The two countries signed an agreement last year that formalized their military cooperation.
Earlier this year, Syrian troops also took part in military exercises held in Turkey.
Turkish officials have repeatedly stated that Ankara does not consider Syria’s security separate from its own.
Israel, meanwhile, has remained suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus, led by former Islamist insurgents. Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said repeatedly that he does not want a conflict with Israel.
Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after Assad’s fall, mainly destroying assets of the Syrian army to keep them out of the hands of his successors. The Israeli military also seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria, which it continues to occupy.
The Israeli army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, on Wednesday toured the occupied area in Syria and told troops, “We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders, and we will know how to use our operational capabilities precisely where and when needed.”
Turkey, a NATO member that also recently signed a defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, gave no indication that it would respond militarily to the Israeli strikes in Syria, but the incident added further strain to already tense Turkish-Israeli relations.
Turkey and Israel once were close allies, but the relationship has been marked by deep frictions under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s more than two-decade rule, despite brief periods of reconciliation. Erdogan is an outspoken critic of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, while Israel has been angered by Erdogan’s support for the Hamas militant group.
The fall of Assad’s government further strained their relations as the two rivals sought to curb each other’s influence in the neighboring country, with some analysts fearing that they could be headed toward a proxy war.
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Fraser reported from Ankara.
FILE - Decommissioned Syrian air force planes are seen at the Abu Duhur military air base east of Idlib, following the takeover of the area by Syrian opposition fighters on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Albam, File)
