On September 16, hundreds of protesters gathered near those Turkish military positions in Greater Idlib, which are surrounded by the Syrian Army, demanding the full withdrawal of the Turkish Army from Syria.
The largest protests took place near Turkish observation posts at Murak and Alsurman. Both these posts were surrounded by Syrian troops during the military operation against Turkish-backed al-Qaeda terrorists in southern Idlib. A majority of the protesters who took part in the event were from the nearby towns and villages, including Murak, Alsurman and Tell Touqan.
In the best traditions of Turkish ‘democracy’, Turkish soldiers from the Murak observation post responded to the protesters with tear gas.
Later on the same day, the Turkish government claimed that the observation posts had become the target of provocations and even individual attacks fomented by the ‘Assad regime’. According to the Turkish side, Turkish forces successfully repelled the provocation.
Meanwhile, Russian-Turkish military consultations on the conflicts in Syria and Libya have been ongoing in Ankara. According to Russian state media, Moscow proposed that the Turkish military reduce the number of observation posts in Greater Idlib, but the proposal was rejected. Nonetheless, Russian state media reported, citing their own sources, that Turkey had agreed to reduce the number of troops deployed in Idlib.
Currently, Ankara has almost 10,000 troops and thousands of pieces of military equipment, including battle tanks and artillery, in northwestern Syria. If the media reports are true, the formal and widely-promoted withdrawal of a dozen Turkish military trucks with several dozen troops will not change the situation strategically. Ankara has repeatedly demonstrated that it is not interested in a real fight against terrorism in Syria and that it in fact uses Idlib terrorist groups to promote its own agenda. This posture could be changed only under the increasing pressure of circumstances and regular friendly reminders from Turkey’s ‘strategic partners’.
As one such reminder over the past few days, the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted more than a hundred airstrikes on infrastructure and positions of the Turkish-backed terrorists. These strikes started last weekend and as of the morning of September 17, it does not seem that they will be fully halted anytime soon. Clouds have once again gathered over the jihadi paradise, which is being created by the Erdogan government in northwestern Syria.
Turkey is only hardening its position it seems…?.to defy Russia…amongst ever repeating endless discussions meetings of agreements that seem to be held in ever procrastinating circles.
https://www.mideastdiscourse.com/2020/09/17/russia-rejects-turkeys-proposal-to-handover-syrian-cities-to-them/
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Gabriel Kino said on Thursday that Turkey and its affiliated armed groups are responsible for the chaos in the areas that it occupies. Kino referred to the report of Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria published on Tuesday, which talked about war crimes committed by Turkish-backed armed opposition groups and looting of world heritage sites in Afrin and Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in northern Syria.
Erdogan Determined to continue fighting for our friends just as we do for ourselves, this is Turkey’s model of struggle
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So between two Nato countries Turkey in north west….USA even more strongly continually reinforcing its oil theft scheme with even more military convoys in the seemingly lawless north east…..what can give way? Syria is desparate for its own oil now autumn rhen winter to come along let alone needing the monies for what economy there is…..
Erdogan’s strategy is clear. The Russians and Syrians will have to kill all the terrorists in Idlib. He will continue to use the terrorists against Syria and Assad as proxy fighters. He will continue to pay them (with Qatari money). He will continue to arm them with weapons, munitions and explosives for IEDs.
This is now almost two years of taking back Idlib. Methodically, the Russian strategy is clear. They will kill all the terrorists who do not leave Idlib and go into Turkey to be relocated, sent home, resettled as refugees with their families.Turkey uses the refugee camps along the border as a wall against the Kurds in Syria.
Among the 50-60,000 terrorists are 5000 Central Asian and Russian Federation fighters and 5000 Uyghurs from China’s Xinjiang Province. Both Russia and China want all these terrorists killed. They don’t want them returning to their native countries.
The tactics the Russians and Syrians are using is methodical, slow, but deadly. Using long range artillery and intensive air strikes, they pinpoint and destroy hundreds of terrorists at a time.
Due to the nature of the AQ, ISIS and al Nusra ideology, their won’t be any peace-making or surrender. The Turk backing, the Muslim Brotherhood financing from Qatar, and the black hand of Israel and the US meddling in the Syrian war guarantee the Russians and Syrians will be killing these fighters for another year.
Putin in Wonderland Lost…
“… The tactics the Russians and Syrians are using is methodical, slow, but deadly …”
I agree here with the word “slow”.
But the word “tactics” out must go.
As for the rest,
Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat put it best:
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”
No-where.
I have come to believe that the Putin model of masterly geopolitics is to achieve some minimal status quo and then to do nothing, waiting for the normal vicissitudes of time to create problems for the other side and then act as though he knew that those were going to happen all along. Unfortunately there are plenty of people who believe him.
Just in a few words. Not that I´m any kind of non-critical fans of Putin but somehow he had to start watching all the perimeter of huge Russia now, even the Arctics as you know for sure. No wasting of time and resources for Syria.
Too many hot spots encircling Russian borders. Not mentioning that in the long-run Americans intend to play the Chinese card, and please have in mind there are more than 2 million of them in Russia, tens of thousands illegally. Let it be for the time being.
What is burning soon? Kazakhstan. Long borderline, millions of Russians (result of Stalin´s social engineering) soon molested as in Ukraine or expelled as migrants…. Just imagine the big country infiltrated by Muslim radicals and US dollars! The micro countries Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are not worth mentioning.
Do not hesitate to correct me if I am wrong.
dont forget the national Endowment for Democracy fictitious Xinjiang east Turkestan urgyur seperatist state they promote even on maps. urgyur terrorists declared a caliphate in syria alongside isis. how cute to carve out a battle training zone with the full support of nato and zionists.
International affairs and geopolitics is a balancing act where you recognize the strategic and political interests of multiple international actors in your playing field in order to look for opportunities and compromises to achieve your short and long term interests.
Its a complicated game, where team A calls certain groups terrorists while team B calls them freedom fighters.
The power and respect that Russians command comes from their policy of recognizing the interest of each actor (Turkey, Iran, Syria, Israel, China, USA, etc.), while clearly stating its own interest. Its not a perfect game, it gets dirty and muddy sometimes, and you don’t always make the right choices. There is lots of fluidity, flexibility and changes in time.
Each actor has good and bad (evil) sides, with some actors being unfortunately more evil than others. Your job is to play your best game with the cards you are dealt with.
The historical changes that have globally taken place in terms of governance (shift from empires to nation states), technology (communications and weapons), society, economy, culture, morals and values all have effected how this game is being played. It is historically becoming much more complex !
Erdogan’s strategy is clear?
The strategy you lay out doesn’t look anything like the strategy as understood by myself. Or Lavrov for that matter.
Other then yes, Idlib has been being cleared slowly and methodically. But it’s been largely Turkey with the sometime assistance of Russia that has been doing so.
As Lavrov has said “The military confrontation between the Government and the opposition is over.”
and he is referring to Idlib in this regard.
“Turkey uses the refugee camps along the border as a wall against the Kurds in Syria.”
Of course they do. What else would you expect?
Maybe Russia should arm, train and support the Armenians, so they can once again live in those long stolen parts of their old homeland and enjoy a good stretch of their own Black Sea coast? At the same time, Iraki and Syrian Kurds should be armed, trained and encouraged to fight for their own homeland in eastern Anatolia, while Greek Cypriots begin to kick out the Turkish military invaders (not the Turkish Cypriots who’ve been living there since ages) and Greece picks a fight over long standing territorial issues in the Aegean. Maybe even Bulgaria could join the party? Surely, there’s no neighboring country of Turkey that hasn’t been offended or violated multiple times over the past couple of centuries. And of course, it goes without saying, once the SAA is on the roll again, they shouldn’t stop at Idlib’s borders but proceed to liberate the Hatay province as well, which is Syrian territory after all. Anything goes, as long as it puts old wrongs right and helps to eliminate Turkey’s odious akp, grey wolves and all. A positive side effect of all of this might also be that it possibly derails nato completely, as the primitives in charge of its planning couldn’t handle such a complex situation …
… well, I’m obviously being sarcastic here. But like many others I’m sooo fed up with Erdogan and his sick imperial ambitions.
Not one single country in that area, bar Iran which was never colonised by them, can tolerate the Ottomans, and yet the great geopolitical master Putin, who can see decades into the future and manipulates everything, has failed to use that intense dislike as a tool against the Ottomans. Very masterly.
While Kurds dance with Americans, Russians will not arm them, not help them and not deal with them.
And while Kurds play with Americans, Russia will tolerate Turkish meddling in Syria.
The most oil fields are now useless anyway.
True. But I think, once the ultra-corrupt Barsani clan has been removed or eliminated, the Kurds will dump their U.S.- and Israel- connections in favor of regional alliances and they will surely try to mend their once friendly relations with the Syrian government. Whether they will ever “qualify” as a People with a legitimate claim for independence and self-rule … no idea.
P.S.: … But I hope they will at some point in the future.
Erdogan is a useful player in the scheme of things. He has to stay connected to Iran and Russia, because of the Kurds in Syria, in Iraq and in Iran. To control his Kurds, he needs to control all the others. Thus, the need he has for allies. So, understand that Iran and Russia are using him also. Against NATO, against CENTCOM, and as a counter-weight to Israel.
Erdogan has needs.
He needs Russia to watch for coups inside his military and from outside (CIA).
He needs Russia for advanced weapons systems.
He needs Russia for trade and tourism.
He needs Russia and Iran and Syria to decimate the large forces of terrorists he no longer can use or afford the costs.
The Russians feel they can manage his small treacheries. They already suffered his large treacheries (the downed jet fighter and loss of the pilot and the assassinated Ambassador).
And when his reign ends, Russia will have a strong influence on the next leader of Turkey, who will not be anywhere as devious or powerful.
Russia plays a long game in geopolitics. Putin plays a game of patience.
“This posture could be changed only under the increasing pressure of circumstances and regular friendly reminders from Turkey’s ‘strategic partners’.”
What have those friendly reminders achieved? In fact what has Putin’s re engagement with Turkey achieved except the sale of a few S400s? Turkey is still in NATO, the Imperialist States of Amerikastan still operates from Incirlik, Turkey is looting Syria with impunity, Turkey is up to the ears in Libya in support of the so called GNA, etc etc. What have Russian “reminders” got in return? The one time Russia brought Turkey to heel, it didn’t negotiate, it stopped all tourism and economic engagement. Why isn’t Putin doing that now?
Turkey is still in NATO, …
I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing for Russia, actually. Turkey, with the biggest military in Europe, is at odds with Greece and the US, and the French. Lots of bickering and military posturing involved. If I were RF, I’d rejoice at the sight of my enemies (let’s dispense with the niceties and call a spade a spade) fighting amongst themselves. Turkey inside Nato is a bigger problem than outside it. For Nato. And forget about Article 5. It will be applied selectively and Turkey understands that.
S400
Buying a weapon implies trust, more on the part of the buyer than the seller. Selling the missiles was a strategic move on RF’s part. The sale has created a wedge between the member with the largest military in situ with the rest of Nato. It has resulted in a public display of lack of cohesion within the grouping, the spectacle of a power struggle between Nato’s prime mover, the US, and it’s erstwhile minion. The US lost. Thus the sale of “a few S400 missiles” is no trivial matter; neither are the consequences — I believe the Wahhabi rulers of Saudi Arabia are contemplating buying RF weapons. Same thing with the UAE. A bit of hedging going on amongst the Zionist criminals. More political incoherence amongst the despicables in the AZEmpire.
Turkey is looting Syria with impunity, Turkey is up to the ears in Libya in support of the so called GNA, etc etc….Why isn’t Putin doing that now?
Should Putin be doing anything? RF is not the world’s policeman. Never was one. RF’s core interests are not being interfered with in North Africa, not really. In Syria — for the moment at least — cooperation with Turkey is more benefial to RF and Syria’s interests than outright confrontation. But Turkey understands that in Syria there is a line it must not cross. RF has made sure of that, no doubt.
Incirlik is important but not so significant for RF. Nato can move their base elsewhere — Greece, Italy — on relatively short notice and still pose the same threat. At any rate the Turks have demonstrated that they’re not above holding the base to ransom.
The loud sobbing you hear is from the Anglo Americans, Israelis, and Europeans wailing that their beloved pro-democracy head-choppers in Syria are being dispatched back to Hell.
May these jihadists and, better yet, their American and Western puppet-masters be on the receiving end of even more hellacious airstrikes.
Clouds indeed. — “As one such reminder over the past few days, the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted more than a hundred airstrikes on infrastructure and positions of the Turkish-backed terrorists. These strikes started last weekend and as of the morning of September 17, it does not seem that they will be fully halted anytime soon.”
Some of you might recall the Russian President stressing the need for an intensive pace in these airstrikes.
Unintelligible.
Is what the rusiski game is or plays out in Idlib.
The question for me is: what the heck is so important in the ankara x moscow relations that that makes this long line of death, carnage and absence of victory worth while?
Putin and his army gets some priceless experience in a war.
/ While NATO is running over-excersised/. In Syria and in the meantime another nation, Germany is getting very close to the gravitational Putin’s orbit.
The Bosphorus, Sea of Mamara and the Dardenelles. The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits. Russia has to consider all of these with regards to Erdogan and Turkey. Russia does not need a war with Turkey.
“Russia does not need a war with Turkey.”
And Turkey does not need a war with Russia- though their are certain parties who have done all they can to make this happen.
New documents have exposed British state sponsorship of the moderate terrorists in Syria, which was done in conjunction with similar American state-sponsored terrorist operations against that country…..
New Documents Reveal Secret British Efforts To Arm, Assist And Propagandize ‘Moderate Rebels’ In Syria
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/09/new-documents-reveal-secret-british-efforts-to-arm-assist-and-propagandize-moderate-rebels-in-syria.html
Enlightening comments.. Turkish economy is also suffering, low morale among military has not improved with the Libya meddling and even sandstorms affecting parts of central Turkey (Ankara) . However, I believe Pasha Erdogan’s main trump card !! is still the dam(s) controlling the Euphrates and Tigris flowing onto Syria and Iraq. Apparently in South Western Iraq there is a confirmed large exploitable aquifer, needs do-able side drilling!! Have the Iraqis started on this!!?? Syria..hidden aquifers?? No idea.. but these left-behind US troops in the Eastern parts won’t help & Israeli planes/drones hopping from US controlled runways. Plus forest fires in parts of Syria, maybe drone started!!! This whole disaster is going to drag on in Syria for at least another 5 or more years.. 50000 headchoppers need to be euthanized or re-educated by Russian pin point bombing and/or swarm drone interventions (recycle Afghan heroin on a few 1000!! ). Many Syrian military must be at the limit of war weariness and the 300 to 500 (!!?? too many) Russian fatalities, including 2 major generals, is/could become a growing issue for Putin. Hopefully massive pin point missile strikes by Iran and Hezbollah will also increase the number of deserters.. but where can they flee to? Not Turkey.. perhaps KSA.. As that psychopathic nutter Dick Cheney said ‘this could last for a hundred years..’
Southfront…?? Why?
Let’s read what Lavrov has actually stated regarding Turkish/Russian cooperation regarding Idllib…
Quoting from a lengthy interview accessible from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sergey Lavrov: I am fresh from Damascus where I was together with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia who discussed during this visit the prospects of our economic cooperation and I discussed the political part of the current situation.
I don’t think that anybody who talks to President Assad and to his ministers can conclude that the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic is exclusively relying on the military solution. This is not true. The military confrontation between the Government and the opposition is over. The only two hotbeds on the Syrian soil is Idlib, where Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, which is one of the reincarnations of Jabhat Al Nusra is in charge, but the territory Hayat Tahrir Al Sham controls in Idlib is shrinking.
And our Turkish colleagues on the basis of the Russian-Turkish memorandum they make efforts to continue to fight the terrorists and to separate the normal opposition from the terrorist groups, we support them in this endeavour, so there is no fighting between the government and the opposition there.
Personally speaking I’ll take Lavrov’s words over a contradictory Southfront report any day.