By Finian Cunningham
February 18, 2020 "Information
Clearing House" - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
is like the proverbial thief who has
been caught with his hand in the cookie
jar. Instead of slinking off in shame,
he goes into a fit of rage as if he’s
the one who is the injured party.
This is the situation in Syria’s
northwest territory where under a 2018
deal with Russia, Turkey was obligated
to maintain a de-escalation zone. Ankara
failed to do so. Attacks by terror
groups operating from Idlib and Aleppo
countryside continued unabated against
Syrian civilians in Aleppo city and
other government-controlled areas.
Those deadly breaches of the
de-escalation deal were carried out
in spite of the fact that Turkish
military forces were permitted to have
12 observation posts on Syrian
territory. That arrangement – to allow a
foreign power to have a military
presence on its territory – was a major
concession by the Syrian government. A
concession that has been abused time and
time again.
Since the Turks did not stop the
terror groups launching offensive
operations, well then, all bets were
off. From the end of last year, the
Syrian Arab Army has moved to finally
crush the insurgents operating from
their last bastion in northwest Syria.
Russia, which backs Syria, says it
supports that nation’s sovereign right
to eradicate all terror groups from its
territory. The major insurgent faction
is Jabhat al-Nusra (also known as Tahrir
Hayat al-Sham)* which is an
internationally proscribed terrorist
outfit. Therefore, the Syrian state has
every right under UN resolutions and
international law to pursue its
objective.