ME War Expanding, page-14

IMHO this is a lot of ill informed crapoloa .... Russian propaganda.  Isn't it weird that so many on this forum quote Russia Today (RT) as a singular and almost Biblical  source of "truth " ..... but I am yet to meet a real Australian who holds such views.

Anyway ....  there are a lot of half truths in what all sides are saying and there is always "some" truth in the RT articles.  Everything just needs to be read from a broader  perspective.

Moving on from the crap .... one  key challenge for Russia will be to maintain the semi-truce between the Regime and the SDF Maoists (who are supported by both Russia and the US).  Predicting Turkey's next actions is their second challenge.  McGurk's visit to Korbani with French and British envoys in tow was a message to Turkey as they amass troops and armour just accross the border.  This clearly upset Erdogan who is now telling (threatening) the US to choose between the Syrian Kurds and himself.  I know not who is advising Erdogan on this but ir would be a joke if  Turkey's military capacity were not so "real".

The Saudi/ Turkish agenda is for the creation of an Islamist Saudi styled state in Northern Syria.  Their only problem is that the Kurds are in Northern Syria and they are now getting support from some Sunni Tribes, some Turkman and some Assyrian Christians and have rebranded themselves.  I expect that the Maoists  will soon accept the help of the Rodjava Peshmerga ... a US supported Kurdish force that is Western Oriented and very non-Communist.  The only reason the Maoists would ever do this is to keep Turkey out .... and that's another long story.

Strangely, the governance model put forward by the Maoists would accommodate autonomous (conservative) Sunni Arab provinces .....  so what we have is an ongoing conflict being fed by personal hatred.... and nothing much more.  The Regime is an atrocious embarrassment to both Russia and Iran ..... but that's another long story.  The expectation of the US is that Putin keeps a firm lid on the Regime.

cheers