In a sign that some progress is being made in the Syrian peace talks in Astana, the government an the attending rebels have issued a joint statement agreeing to extend the ceasefire in the country, saying they intend to both pursue a fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front.
The statement is a major boost to the ceasefire and the sense that the talks are accomplishing something, with the added perk that this is the first time the rebels affirmed that the Nusra Front are not part of the ceasefire, nor the peace process.
That’s unsurprising, however, as Nusra Front forces launched a major attack against rebel participants in the peace talks started Tuesday night, and by early Wednesday had wiped out an entire Free Syrian Army (FSA) faction in the Idlib Province.
While that served to clarify the issue and separate the “moderate Islamists” more directly from al-Qaeda, the fact that one of the substantial parties of the ceasefire was outright wiped out also leaves open the question of whether there are enough rebels left at the Astana talks to be a meaningful negotiating force.
Always remember that negotiations can only succeed for Syria if one side holds a much stronger negotiating hand than the other. In this case, Russia has handed that strength to the Assad legitimate government of Syria.
Chances for peace can be destroyed if the FSA terrorists are strengthened to give them close to equal power to negotiate. This is what Trump’s handlers are in the process of doing now. This is why Trump is being directed to make threats of a no-fly zone/safe zone. More empowerment will be handed to Assad’s foes soon that will also tilt the negotiating table in favour of the terrorists.
Both Syria and Iran are no longer considered to be possible victims of allout US led war and thereby falling under US control. Russia and China are back to take the place of the Soviet Union. Trump is likely incapable of understanding that but his handlers do and they are demonstrating that they are not going to let it happen, regardless of what Russia and China desire for their own interests in the ME.