Hi Catgut. I did briefly read the Russian position on this and from social media commentary the rebels (including a few pockets of HTS rebels) say they are unwilling to let anyone go.
I had had to kill the odd rat in the roof lately and dispatching them isn't a nice task. An underlying problem we have is that after seven or eight years of conflict people see that adversaries as no different to roof rats. Some of our friends on this thread have similar mindsets. It's all point scoring and no strategic advantage will in any case be achieved.
I'll hold to the key points in my earlier post. Rather than pursuing a continual stalemate which risks escalation (Israel & US vs Iran, Turkey vs. Iran and/or Turkey vs. Iran .... I don't know where Russia would fit into this) a UN Resolution facilitates some face saving exit pathways.
And so Russia, Iran and the US all wish to redevelop Syrian O&G. How surprising. You kept repeating yourself on that several years ago. Well maybe they all can BUT a strong Syrian central O&G department is needed to ensure there are no rip offs. Beyond that who the F75( # should care what the Kurds call their cantons or how they market their olives and tomatoes. Russia needs to strongly push their Syrian and Iranian fenemies to show sufficient flexibility to allow the Northern Federation peoples to save some face.
My other garbage thought (as Bolat puts it) is that within the Northern Federation, the Kurds could be used as a nexus
eventually bring the Sunni Arabs and Alawites under a compatible roofline.
OK if Turkey actually does support a cease fire Erdogan should now send buses to East Ghouta and escort people out of there. We will only know whether or not the Rebels will comply when the buses arrive.
