...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
announce deep demilitarized zone around last rebel-held region, where fears of a devastating assault by regime forces were running high
Moscow said Monday that there would be no assault on Syria’s Idlib as the leaders of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarized zone around the Syrian rebel-held province.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...and his
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...‐ who are on opposite sides in the deadly seven-year conflict in Syria ‐ met for over four hours in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi to decide the fate of Idlib, home to three million people.
"We will prevent a humanitarian tragedy which could happen as a result of military action," Erdogan said after the talks.
Putin said the two leaders agreed to create a 15-20 kilometer-wide demilitarized zone along the line of contact between rebels and regime troops by October 15.
This would entail a "withdrawal of all radical fighters" from Idlib including the al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front, he added.
| Brilliant idea. It will be subsequently revealed that they’ll probably be sent on their own Trail of Tears to the city of Jisr al-Shughur, elsewhere in Idlib province. |
The demilitarized zone will be secured with the help of "mobile patrol groups of
By the end of the year, transportation routes between the key port of Latakia and Aleppo as well as Latakia and the major city of Hama must be restored, he added.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the agreement between Putin and Erdogan meant that no military action would be taken against Idlib, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia-backed forces of the Syrian regime have massed around Idlib province in recent weeks, sparking fears of an imminent air and ground attack to retake the last major opposition bastion.
Erdogan and Putin met previously on September 7 in Tehran for a three-way summit with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. At that summit the Russian and
MASS EXODUS FEARS
Turkey’s military has reportedly sent reinforcements to Idlib in recent weeks. Tanks and other hardware, with a convoy of 50 military vehicles, were sent over the border Sunday, according to the Hurriyet daily.
Turkey backs opposition fighters seeking the ouster of the Syrian leader. It has said a large-scale offensive against the rebels could trigger a mass exodus towards its border.
Russian and Syrian air strikes, artillery fire and barrel kabooms have killed more than 30 civilians across the province in the past month, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The bombardment has slowed over the past week, however, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that the Syrian regime is not preparing a major offensive against Idlib, adding that Moscow will do everything to protect civilians.
The Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, when the Assad regime launched a crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The crackdown evolved into a complex conflict involving jihadists and world powers.
It has killed an estimated 360,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.