Turkey faces serious odds in Manbij and Idlib
Despite many rounds of talks with Washington and Moscow, Ankara has still made little headway regarding its plans for northern Syria.
Turkey finds itself in an increasingly difficult situation on two fronts in Syria. Its key priorities have boiled down to trying to keep Russian and Syrian regime forces out of Idlib on the one hand and securing the departure of US forces from Manbij and territories east of the Euphrates River on the other.
The two topics will continue to drain Turkey’s diplomatic energies in the coming weeks and months and require subtle negotiations with the United States and Russia if Ankara is to make any headway in its plans for northern Syria.
With Washington’s determination to contain Iran and Russian plans to establish a strong presence in the Middle East by way of Syria, Ankara appears to be caught between two superpowers that it ultimately has little capacity to budge.
Despite many rounds of talks with Moscow and Washington, Ankara has still made little progress on both counts so far. Positive statements from the sides about a determination to continue working closely to overcome differences have not changed the picture much.
