Monday’s surprise Turkey-Russia deal on Syria’s Idlib Province, which aims to stop a military invasion of rebel-held territory in return for a demilitarized zone, and rebels withdrawing from that entire area, has a very fast time-frame, with officials hoping to have it in place by mid-October.
Russia and Turkey are on board, and Syria seems okay with the deal, but there has yet to be any comment out of al-Qaeda or the other Islamist factions in the area. This could quickly derail any such deal if they refuse to go along with it.
The buffer zone is to by 15-25 km, with all heavy weapons withdrawn from the area, and Turkish and Russian forces policing the area. Though the exact location of the zone is not fully defined, it is believed to cut substantially through al-Qaeda’s territory.
Turkey is sending more troops into this area, preparing to try to enforce the buffer zone. Syria’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the news, but vowed to continue to fight until the whole country is back under government control.
This is just Ru.ssia buying time to separate terror groups from the civilian population in Idlib but the fact remains that eventually they’ll have to clash because they have no intention of leaving.
This is a nice way to cool off Iblib until after the American elections and the pending White Helmet gas attack drama will not affect Trumps ratings.
What will al-CIAda do with all that phony White Helmet gas-attack footage they shot last week? You can’t stage a false-flag event if the real attack isn’t even going to happen. Damn, no Oscar for the White Helmets this year!
Al Qaeda cooperate? What color is the sky on that planet?
I can’t believe that guys like Putin and Erdogan are so naive as to think for one moment they will get cooperation from al Qaeda. Instead, they’ve got some deal on “Okay, then what.” We just don’t know that deal yet, which is the one that matters.
“I can’t believe that guys like Putin and Erdogan are so naive as to
think for one moment they will get cooperation from al Qaeda.”
Divide and conquer, Mark. If the Turks engage al-CIAda terrorists from the north and the Russians from the south… Oh, man, Israel must be totally flummoxed. Good! And, no plausible false-flag attacks against the Syrians. Putin is quite the chess player.