​​​​​​​Jeffrey: Syrian government will not enter Idlb, warns Russia to sink deeper in Syrian "Quagmire"

Jeffrey said that Russia is currently in the midst of the Syrian quagmire, and he explained, "The quagmire is when they are in a position to invest their resources without success and without leaving (a way out of the crisis). Therefore, they will have to struggle so that they do not fall or drown, and at the end, they will decide to follow another method, which is cooperation with us and the international community. "

He added in a telephone interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper: “We know that they realize that they are in the swamp, but even if you are in a swamp, and this happened with us in Vietnam, it takes time to deeply realize that and act on this basis, this happened with the Soviets. In Afghanistan, and it happened with Iran in southern Iraq in the eighties (during the war between the two sides). It takes years. He added, "They will continue to put pressure until Russia realizes that."

Jeffrey claimed that the Damascus government will not return to Idlib any time soon, and he attributed this to the presence of the Turkish occupation army, and said: “It has about 20 thousand soldiers, and perhaps 30 thousand, and has the ability to prevent the regime from going to Idlib.” And he added: “I am sure of Turkey, with the support of America, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will not allow this. "

And about the question of any support provided by America to Turkey in Idlib? Jeffrey replied, saying: “We provided diplomatic support, and we spoke with the Turks about that and the necessary support, and President Donald Trump said this clearly in September 2018, in addition to the message that Ambassador David Satterfield conveyed to NATO in support of Turkey in March of last year. ".

The former US envoy to Syria confirmed that the Damascus government is politically, militarily and economically weak, and revealed that “the US sanctions will tighter the regime,” adding: “Sanctions harm the regime and impede its decision-making ability and military actions.” He added in response to a question that the sanctions have caused suffering to the Syrian people. We must not forget that the main reason for the suffering of Syrians is the decision of al- Assad regime, corruption and bribes. This is not due to sanctions.

On the number of US forces and their goals in northern and eastern Syria, Jeffrey said: “There is a small force that supports the Syrian Democratic Forces to defeat ISIS, but through our presence there on the ground and our air presence as well, we want to deprive al-Assad, Russia and Iran of controlling the territories there, in addition to al-Tanf.”

T/S

ANHA