Turkey’s risky route in Idlib
Turkey is struggling to maintain a balance with Russia as it takes action to block the Syrian army at Idlib.
As the Syrian regime's offensive against Idlib continues, Turkey has to pull off two contradictory missions in Syria’s last rebel stronghold: Save Tell Rifaat and Idlib at the same time.
Russia and the Syrian regime launched air and ground operations against rebels in Idlib on April 28. While Turkey tries to prevent the operation from becoming an all-out war, it has been baffled by three major developments.
First, the Turkish army and its allied militias have turned toward Tell Rifaat, where the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are based. It has raised questions about whether Turkey is bargaining for Tell Rifaat for Idlib and thus selling out its opposition allies.
Second, the Turkish army did not react when two of its 12 observation posts in the de-escalation zone were caught in the crossfire. Has Turkey agreed to a limited operation to fulfill the stipulations of the Sochi accord? Russia has stated it is coordinating with Turkey, further nourishing this suspicion. According to the Sochi accord, signed in September 2018, all heavy weapons and militants were to be removed from a buffer zone around Idlib by Oct. 10 and 15, respectively. Furthermore, the M-4 Aleppo-Latakia and M-5 Aleppo-Hama highways would be opened to traffic. These terms were not met, and Turkey couldn’t put an end to clashes in Idlib.
