Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Russians, Turks meet on Syria
Ministers pledge cooperation in region after U.S. withdraws
MOSCOW — Top Russian and Turkish ministers agreed during a meeting Saturday in Moscow to maintain cooperation in northern Syria as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said before the talks began that they would focus on the situation in and around Idlib, as well as “what can and should be done” when the U.S. withdraws from Syria.
After the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that much of the discussion focused on the pending U.S. withdrawal, and that Russia and Turkey agreed on coordinating their steps in Syria “to ultimately eradicate the terrorist threat.”
Turkey is threatening to open a military operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces controlling nearly a third of the country. Turkey considers the Kurdish forces to be terrorists.
Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said the meeting lasted an hour and a half. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not attend. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the two would schedule a separate meeting later.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russia and Turkey have a “shared will on cleaning Syria from all terror organizations,” and added Turkey would continue its “close cooperation” with Russia and Iran in Syria and the region.
The Syrian military said it entered the Kurdish stronghold of Manbij on Friday as part of an apparent agreement between the two sides. The Kurds are looking for new allies to protect themselves against a threatened Turkish offensive.
“The Syrian army has taken control of Manbij,” Peskov told reporters later Saturday on a conference call.
With President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw troops earlier this month, Turkey announced it will hold off on a threatened offensive against the Kurds. It has, however, continued amassing troops at the border.
The movements follow days of equipment transfers across the border into a Turkish-held area of northern Syria near Manbij.
Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters said they have started moving along with Turkish troops to frontline positions near the town as a show of readiness. A statement released by the rebels said they are ready to “begin military operations to liberate the city in response to calls by our people in the city of Manbij.”
Turkey’s Ihlas News Agency showed video of at least 50 tanks arriving at a command post in Sanliurfa province early Saturday. The province borders Kurdish-held areas east of the Euphrates river in Syria.
Turkish officials were seeking Russia’s approval to access Syrian airspace for strikes against Kurdish militants and the Islamic State militant group, Hurriyet newspaper reported Friday, without saying how it got the information.
Russia has said the Syrian government should retake areas vacated by the U.S., but also joined Trump in endorsing a role for Turkey in continuing the fight against the Islamic State group.
Russia and Turkey have been maneuvering to position themselves for a new order in a Syria without a U.S. military presence. Trump announced the withdrawal on Dec. 19, prompting the departure of his secretary of defense, James Mattis. Brett McGurk, the lead envoy for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, also resigned.
In Syria, opposition activists said the head of a local council allied with the Kurds was assassinated in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Marwan Fatih, head of the Deir el-Zour Council, was shot dead in the province by unknown assailants. The activist collective DeirEzzor24 said he was killed when a roadside bomb exploded on the highway linking the cities of Deir el-Zour and Hassakeh in the northeast. Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Bodner, Zeynep Bilginsoy and Bassem Mroue of The Associated Press; and by Henry Meyer, Andrey Biryukov, Selcan Hacaoglu, Onur Ant and Dana Khraiche of Bloomberg News.