Turkey is either defeat or chaos in Idlib , escalation is increasing in Iraq

 On Saturday morning, the Arab newspapers touched on the situation in Idlib and Turkey's options there, in addition to the Iraqi situation.

Al-Arab: Turkey has two options in Idlib: defeat or chaos

The Arab newspapers issued this morning dealt with the Syrian issue several issues, the most prominent of which was the situation in Idlib and the Turkish options. In this context, Al-Arab newspaper said: "The Turkish army announced on Friday that it does not intend to withdraw from the observation points in Idlib despite the loss of its militias to Saraqib at a time A Russian delegation intends to visit Ankara on Saturday to discuss the latest field developments.

Ankara insists on interfering in Syria, despite the fact that the regime forces managed to achieve important field progress in the recent period, at the expense of the armed groups.

Turkey was not able to enter its soldiers, and establish those points without obtaining the approval of the party that controls the land there, which is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhet al-Nusra) affiliated to al-Qaeda in the Levant.” Its fighters were accompanying the Turkish officers when carrying out reconnaissance mission to establish points.

The attack launched by the Syrian government in Idlib on Thursday shows the difficult situation in which Turkey stands, and in the face of the attack, Erdogan stands before two options: either to pledge to send more troops and continue to fight, or to stand without action and accept defeat at the hands of Assad and his allies, which may cause millions of refugees to flee to Turkey.

And all other options seem unavailable. The 12 army checkpoints agreed upon by Turkey and Russia in September 2018, do not achieve deterrence to the Syrian government in any way, al-Assad still insists on reclaiming the last major area in Syria is still under the control of the militants, outside the northeast.

Observers believe that unless the Turkish army enters the city of Idlib on a much larger scale, and includes parts of it in an influential manner similar to what happened in Afrin and Aleppo in northern Syria, and the new buffer zone in the northeast of the country, Assad will inevitably control the region, and will be The human cost of heartbreaking blood and devastation.

Turkey will also be directly affected. Russian President Vladimir Putin can offer some remedies in the short term, but Erdogan will not get out of this mess.

Karim Has, a Russian expert, says: “The collapse of Idlib has become an inevitable imperative, and after that the role will come on Afrin as well.

 Once Russia closes the airspace in Afrin, the balance of power there will inevitably change.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat: “New Sochi” at the table of Russia and Turkey in Ankara today

In its turn, Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper said: "The Russian delegation to Ankara today carries a modified version of the Sochi Agreement between the two sides to present it to the Turkish side, including drawing new lines of contact and separating the moderates from the extremists in northwestern Syria.

"The situation will be discussed in Idlib with a Russian delegation tomorrow (today, Saturday)," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuzlu said, noting that the situation there is "still tragic and that large numbers of civilians have been forced to leave their homes due to the attacks of the regime."

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “We are in contact with the Turkish colleagues, and we have agreements with them, which clearly define the system of De-escalation region in Idlib. Our Turkish colleagues pledged to separate the armed opposition from the HTS terrorists, unfortunately, even now the terrorists control the situation in the Idlib area, and this commitment must be finally implemented."

AL-Bayan: Iraq ... division threatening escalation

On the Iraqi issue, Al-Bayan newspaper said: "Following to appoint of Muhammad Allawi to form a government, it appeared more divided than before, and while religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr was involved in supporting Allawi and ending the ongoing protests by force, the religious authority in Iraq, Ali Sistani, sided with the demonstrators, and condemned the recent violence Against them, calling on the security forces not to “repudiate” their duties to protect protesters.

Seven demonstrators were killed this week in an attack carried out by Sadr supporters against a sit-in in Najaf, while a protester was killed in an attack in the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad.

 Al-Sistani described the sermon in his Friday prayer sermon delivered by his representative, Mr. Ahmed Al-Safi, in the city of Karbala as "unfortunate and painful (...) in which blood was spilled unjustly."

(T/S)

ANHA