Were the "ISIS positions" in Turkey?A Russia Defence Ministry center in Syria received reports on Saturday of Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria's Aleppo province, RIA news agency reported, while Turkey said it had been targeting Islamic State positions.
Rhetorical questions aside, Turkey's decision to exclude the Syrian Kurds from the ceasefire could have severe repercussions for the entire peace process. And Moscow is worried:
Simply put, Erdogan gains nothing from the ceasefire: Turkey is heavily invested in toppling Assad, and the Syrian government has already made it clear that only elections, and not backroom deals, will remove him from power. Furthermore, the Syrian Kurds now control a huge swath of northern Syria -- territory which was once held by Turkey's "moderate rebels". In other words, if the ceasefire holds, Erdogan's proxy armies will never be able to take back northern Syria. And of course, without controlling northern Syria, Turkey's dream of a "buffer zone" would not be achievable.Russia has called on Turkey to stop actions that could torpedo Syria's peace talks and disrupt the ceasefire in the war-stricken country.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov on Friday slammed Ankara for shelling Syrian Kurdish positions and for sending weapons across the border to assist foreign-backed militants, Bloomberg reported.
Such actions must stop "to provide a more constructive atmosphere for the intra-Syrian talks and a more durable ceasefire," said Gatilov.
Even the US seems eager to reach a peace settlement in Syria (probably so it can move on to its next target?).
Erdogan has gone rogue.
Comment: As if bombing Syria isn't enough, Lavrov has claimed Turkey's begun sending troops into Syria, committing themselves to a de facto invasion of the country. This is occurring as Russia, along with the Syrian Army, are making rapid progress towards ISIS' capital. Perhaps Erdogan's just feeling the heat as his dreams of toppling Assad fall apart, or perhaps Washington is using him for their own nefarious goals. Further reading: