Russia and Iran Versus Turkey: Strange Bedfellows on Syria

Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Turkish despot Recep Yayyip Erdogan met in Tehran on Syria. They agreed to disagree despite pretending otherwise in their communique following talks.

Discussion mainly focused on the upcoming offensive to liberate the Idlib province from countless thousands of US-supported terrorists, estimated at more than 50,000.

Putin and Rouhani want them eliminated. Erdogan supports the scourge he pretends to oppose, his interests entirely self-serving.

He’s against Syria’s liberating struggle, aiming to annex the country’s territory bordering Turkey, including its oil fields, a prize he’s long coveted, including in northern Iraq.

He opposes the upcoming ground offensive by Syrian forces and Russian airpower to liberate Idlib, the last major terrorist stronghold in the country.

Putin said

“(w)e believe that an agreement will be reached and our call for a truce in the Idlib zone will be heard,” adding:

“We hope that the representatives of terrorist organizations will wise up, stop putting up resistance, and lay down their arms” – what won’t happen, as he knows.

Rouhani said

“(w)e have to realize that only the destruction of the terrorists, a military victory against them, can ensure stability and peace in” in Syria and the region.

Erdogan is reluctant to accept more refugees. He opposes a full-scale offensive – what’s essential to liberate Syria. Half efforts won’t work. In treating cancer, it’s vital to get it all. Leaving any behind assures trouble.

The same goes in Idlib and elsewhere in the country where terrorists exist. It’s vital to eliminate them all, other than scattered elements in various areas too ineffective to be more than annoying, and most important not equipped with tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons.

The final communique after talks was a futile attempt to show solidarity on what’s coming, calling for terrorists in Idlib to lay down their arms and agree to resolve conflict politically – what they, Washington and its imperial partners oppose.

During a Friday Security Council session on Syria, Russia’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia said

“Al-Nusra (terrorists) are striving to keep that territory under their control. For this reason, the freezing of the situation is not acceptable,” adding:

“In the Idlib de-escalation zone there are 40 to 45 armed groups, the overall number of which includes up to 50,000 people.”

“Terrorists in Idlib are acting in an aggressive way. They are taking hostage millions of civilians. They are staging attacks against neighboring territories. The ceasefire regime is being violated dozens of times every day.”

Syrian liberation depends on eliminating terrorists in Idlib and elsewhere in the country, along with reclaiming territory illegally occupied by US forces and its imperial partners.

Russia, Iran and Damascus are on their own, Turkey allied with Washington against them, Erdogan pretending otherwise.

The struggle to liberate Syria has a long way to go with no assurance of how things will turn out.