Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held meetings on Wednesday on the situation in northern Syria’s Idlib Province. The two discussed cooperation on stabilizing the province.
Idlib Province is the last real rebel-dominated part of Syria. It’s a
mess, and not just because the rebels have been packed into the area
from several evacuation deals elsewhere in the country. Al-Qaeda has
also been on a rampage recently, seizing much of the province from other
rebel groups.
Al-Qaeda’s fight has chiefly been against Turkey-backed rebels, which is
why Turkey is keen to stabilize the situation. The Russians made a deal
with Turkey to hold off on fighting in Idlib, but clearly can’t keep
that deal in place if al-Qaeda keeps spreading in the area.
In addition, the two sides also discussed the US proposal of a “safe
zone” between Turkey and Syrian Kurdistan. Russia has not been directly
involved in this plan, so far. The US proposed it to keep Turkey and the
Kurdish YPG separated, though Turkey intends to still invade that part
of Syria following a US pullout.
Thank G-d Julian still has his wit’s and will seek assurances about any release. I humble suggest he open some (back?) channel to someone in the Trump Adm. To establish the basis for some deal, by which everyone can abide..
The US position is incoherent. That is not just because of Trump. It has been a lie that was incoherent since Hillary started the Syrian misadventure, just as was the Libyan misadventure she did before that.
The real story is that Russia and Turkey both are having difficulty dealing with total incoherence backed with weapons and lots of money, run by some seriously evil people (from the US, Saudi Arabia, and not least Israel).
The Turkish sponsored salient in Idlib is doomed to fail. Their DMZ doesn’t cover the whole salient and leaves the area north of Aleppo open to a countermove that would encircle the militants and cut them off from their MIT sponsored JihadiMart®