Russia sends messages to Turkey in Syria; will Erdogan bear the price of his threats to Washington?

On Wednesday morning, the Arab newspapers touched upon the international conflict in Syria and the area, as well as to intensify the tension between Washington and Ankara.

Al-Arab: Syria is at the heart of an international conflict that rages over oil and gas

In this context, Al-Arab newspaper said, "Russia is accelerating the pace to put its hand on what it can from the sources of Syrian oil and gas in light of the presence of regional and international competitors who set their sights on this goal, especially after the calls of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to take advantage of Syria's oil and gas to support his settlement project north the country, and before that, the United States took control of the most important fields in the eastern part, and deployed forces there.

The Turkish-Libyan agreement signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President of the Accord Government Fayez al-Sarraj on November 27, which includes, in part, the demarcation of the eastern Mediterranean Sea borders, has fueled Russian concerns, especially as this agreement fundamentally affects Syria’s maritime interests.

On Tuesday, Russia announced military exercises with the Syrian government forces off the coast of Tartus in the Mediterranean, amid reports that Moscow and Damascus have signed contracts for gas and oil exploration in the Mediterranean, and this is likely to be done during the meeting of the Joint Governmental Committee in Moscow scheduled to be held later in the day. This month.

Analysts say that the motives that the Russian navy talked about regarding the maneuvers that linked it to combating terrorism and confronting drones do not seem convincing, especially at this particular time, as well as the fact that confronting terrorist groups confined to certain areas in Syria, specifically in Idlib and part of the countryside of Aleppo does not require doing such exercises.

Analysts consider that the main goal of the Russian-Syrian military exercises in the Mediterranean is to send a message to Turkey in particular that it will not be allowed to strike at the interests of Damascus and Moscow's naval or complicity in projects to control oil and gas fields at home.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made an appeal to what he called effective global powers, calling for the extraction of Syrian oil and the spending of its revenues on refugees to be settled in northern Syria.

Erdogan's call seemed mainly to the United States, which withdrew from its declared withdrawal from Syria last October against the backdrop of Turkey's military operation "Spring of Peace" in the northeast of the country, to keep a portion of its forces to "protect" the oil fields that are still in the hands of the SDF in all of from the governorates of al-Hasaka, Deir-ez-Zor and al-Raqqa.

Analysts say that Erdogan's call to the active countries to invest in Syrian oil and gas is a minus call aimed at implementing his agenda, which has already constituted a threat to the stability of the region, and analysts point out that Turkish expansionist tendencies are provoking Russia, although the latter still maintains the priority of cooperation with Ankara, where It is preferable to resolve disputes with it through diplomatic means rather than confrontational politics, especially since the situation in Syria is still largely intertwined and there is fear that Turkey will return its compass toward the United States.

It is expected that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit next month to Ankara to discuss Russian concerns about Turkish moves in Syria as in the eastern Mediterranean, and until the meeting, Moscow will use the stick and carrot policy, in parallel with the move to secure its share of Syrian oil and gas.

Emarat al Youm: Calls for two million demonstrations tomorrow in Iraq ... and the imposition of curfews in Karbala

On the Iraqi issue, Emarat al-Youm newspaper said, "The demonstrators in Iraq called for going out in demonstrations of two million, tomorrow to put pressure the parliament to form a new government consistent with their demands, while the Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew in the Karbala governorate, and the protesters blocked roads and government buildings." Several, the police chief of Karbala was also relieved of his position, and another was appointed in his place.

In detail, eyewitnesses reported that hundreds of demonstrators yesterday closed roads leading to a power station, government buildings, streets and bridges, despite the implementation of curfews in the Karbala governorate south of Baghdad.

Al-Arab: Closing Incirlik Base: Does Erdogan bear the price of his emotional threats?

On the Turkish issue, Al-Arab newspaper said, "Turkey is pushing an escalation in its relations with the United States by threatening Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to close the US military base in Incirlik, which is located in the south of the country near the Syrian border. If necessary, "in response to what he described as "American threats.”

The Turkish waving of something like this touches red lines in Ankara's relationship with Washington, as well as the viability of Turkey's affiliation with the Western military system embodied by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Erdogan's waving of the closure of the base threatens to permanently bring the curtain down on Turkey’s historical role within the Atlantic Alliance as a cornerstone of the Western alliance vis-à-vis the Soviet Union in the Cold War phase that lasted from the Korean War in the 1950s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.

Experts in strategic affairs say that Erdogan's threats, despite their populist blackmail nature, are putting new pressure on the strategic position of the United States in the region, and that, if implemented, it will improve Russia's strategic position in the world, especially in Europe and the Middle East. Thus, what Erdogan said occupies the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) in Washington, as well as the NATO leadership in Brussels.

However, Erdogan's escalation this time takes on dimensions of possible sanctions that Congress can impose on Turkey, not to mention the vote of Congress on a text that recognizes the Armenian genocide.

Observers believe that the issues of the dispute over the Turkish deal with Russia and the future of Turkey's relationship with the F-35 aircraft program can be negotiated according to the defense vision presented by President Trump himself. However, Turkish anger is mainly focused on the emerging American position on the issue of Armenian genocide, from which Washington's position was conservative, as it moved away from holding Turkey officially responsible.

(T/S)

ANHA