WarSclerotic

The Kurds have been the main fighting force battling jihadist on the ground in Iraq and Syria, playing an essential role in the US-led coalition’s campaign against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists in Mosul and Raqqa.

In May, the US Department of Defense confirmed the delivery of heavier weapons to US-allied Kurdish fighters which the US believes are needed to outmaneuver the Syrian government and retake the city of Raqqa from IS.

“We will definitely not remain silent and unresponsive to the support and arming of terror organizations next to our borders and the forming of terror havens in the region,” Erdogan warned Saturday at the conclusion of the G20 in Germany, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation quoted.

The Turkish government has urged the US to reverse its decision to broaden support for Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (YPG), stating that it is unacceptable for a NATO ally to support “terrorist groups.”

Ankara perceives the YPG as terrorists allied with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant movement whichTurkey has been battling for three decades. And while Washington agrees with Ankara’s designation of the PKK as a terrorist organization, the US rejects the idea that Kurdish forces in Syria or Iraq should be equated with the PKK.

Turkey also feels threatened by the Kurds in Iraq, especially after the US pumped millions of dollars into the Iraqi army which relies heavily on Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Last month Iraq’s Kurdish region announced that they will hold an independence referendum in September. Erdogan spoke out against the move, fearing that it might produce a domino effect leading to Kurdish-controlled autonomous areas (cantons) in northern Syria to declare independence as well.

“We do not support the idea of a divided Iraq, and a referendum would hurt the peace and stability in the country,” Erdogan said in Hamburg. “If division starts in the north, it would extend to Turkmens, Arabs and there can even be a sectarian-based division between Shias and Sunnis.”

Erdogan emphasized that Turkey will not allow a Kurdish state to be established in northern Syria. However, despite repeated reports that the Kurds in Syria want to create their own state, there’s been no official moves to suggest that an independence declaration is imminent.

The ceasefire and de-escalation agreement negotiated by Russia, the US, and Jordan on Friday took effect across southwest Syria on Sunday at noon Damascus time (09:00 GMT).

The truce extends to Syrian government forces and rebel groups in the provinces of Daraa, Quneitra, and Suwayda.

Commenting on the issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russian, American, and Jordanian experts had worked out the details of the truce, which says the US and Russia bear shared responsibility in ensuring that the ceasefire is respected by all parties, the minister said.

Lavrov added that the ceasefire is aimed at getting aid deliveries through to war-ravaged areas and arranging contacts with opposition groups. A monitoring center in Amman, Jordan’s capital, will oversee the truce.

President Vladimir Putin, who discussed the issue with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, at the G20 summit in Hamburg, called the ceasefire agreement “a breakthrough, to a certain extent,” noting that the deal was made possible by Washington’s “more pragmatic stance” on working with Russia.

While little is known about how the truce will play out on the ground, it is understood that Russian, American, and Jordanian forces will be deployed to the area to stabilize the situation.

“In the first stage, Russian military police, as well as the Americans and the Jordanians, will ensure security around this de-escalation zone covered by the ceasefire,” Lavrov explained.

Russia’s foreign minister stressed that the ceasefire agreement clearly states that “Russia, Jordan, and the United States are committed to Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as UN Security Council resolutions that pave the way to political reconciliation.”

The United Nations, in turn, has stated that it appreciates the international effort being made to bring lasting peace to this part of Syria.

“This is a step in the right direction,” UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told reporters in Damascus, as cited by Reuters.

“All of this leads to supporting the political process,” he added.

Moscow has also engaged neighboring Turkey and Iran to push for the creation of safe zones in other Syrian provinces. The three countries adopted a memorandum on the creation of four security zones in Syria during peace talks in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, in early May.

Extremist groups, including Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front), will be separated from the ‘moderate’ opposition in security zones set up in the cities of Idlib, Latakia, and Homs, as well as parts of Aleppo. Under the memorandum, all hostilities between government forces and the armed opposition should cease within the safe zones.

Checkpoints and observation posts will be installed along the de-escalation lines within the safe zones, which should provide free movement for unarmed civilians and humanitarian access to areas under the control of the guarantor states.

“The fact that the United States and the Russians have agreed on the ceasefire will make it more possible to be implemented,” Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran told RT.

“The Iranians, the Syrians and the Russians believe that the more peace there is in Syria, the more pressure will be on the extremists to end the war, because ordinary people will see their lives back to some sort of normality,” he said.

“On the subject of bilateral and regional issues, I welcome the quality and the intensity of the work that has been established since [meeting in Versailles in May],” Macron told Putin.

“As for personal relations, I think that they are established,” Putin said of his Friday meeting with Trump.

“The Trump we see on TV is very much different from the real person.”

“I think that if we continue building our relations like during our conversation yesterday, there are grounds to believe that we’ll be able to – at least partially – restore the level of cooperation that we need,” Putin said.

Putin said that the issue of alleged Russian meddling in the US election was addressed by Trump during their conversation.

Putin reiterated that there is no reason to believe that Russia meddled in the US electoral process in 2016.

“He [Trump] asked many questions on that subject. I answered those questions as best I could. I think he took it into consideration and agreed with me, but you should really ask him how he feels about it,” the Russian president said.

Regarding cybersecurity, the Russian leader said that he and Trump “agreed that there should never be a situation of uncertainty, especially in the future, in this sphere.”

“The US president and I agreed that we’ll create a working group and work together on how to jointly monitor security in cyberspace, how to ensure unconditional compliance with international legal norms, and how to prevent interference in internal affairs of foreign countries,” Putin said.

“If we manage to organize this work – and I have no reasons to doubt that – then there will be no more speculation on this topic [of Russia meddling],” he added.

Speaking on the allegations of Moscow’s interference in the affairs of foreign countries, Putin blamed the foreign media for doing exactly that in Russia.

“If you analyze the German, French and European media, in general – they’re the ones who are constantly meddling in our internal affairs. But we feel confident and it doesn’t bother us,” he explained.

The situation in Syria was also addressed during the press conference, with Putin saying the new US administration had a “more pragmatic” stance on the issue.

“I think the [US] position became more pragmatic. It doesn’t seem to have changed drastically [compared to the Obama administration], but there’s an understanding that we can achieve a lot by joining forces,” he said.

This approach by Washington made possible the agreement on the southern de-escalation zone in Syria, which was “one of the breakthroughs” during Friday’s talks with Trump, the Russian president added.

Putin stressed the importance of the de-escalation zones for maintaining the territorial integrity of the Syrian state after the conflict.

The de-escalations zones “should become a prototype of such territories, which would be able to cooperate with each other and with the official [government in] Damascus,” he explained.

The Russian president addressed comments by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other Washington officials, who insisted that the Syrian conflict would be not be solved while President Bashar Assad remains in power.

“Mr Tillerson is a very respected person and the bearer of a Russian order. He has been decorated with the Order of Friendship. We love and respect him. But he’s not a Syrian citizen, after all, and the future of Syria and the political future of President Assad should only be determined by the Syrian people,” he said.

It’s a positive development that Putin and Trump have achieved “some kind of personal chemistry,” Martin Summers, journalist and political commentator, told RT.

Summers added, however, that it is still to be seen if the US president can persuade his administration to start mending ties with Moscow.

“It is to be hoped that it is possible that relations could be improved because obviously they have been in a pretty poor state up to now. I think the problem for the Russian side and for everybody really is how much Trump is in charge of his own administration. Because it is quite clear that the CIA, the Pentagon and so on are often wrong-footing Trump moves. And therefore there is some question about whether he can deliver whatever he discussed with Vladimir Putin,” he said.