​​​​​​​Panorama of week.. Al-Assad demands Turkish occupation to leave Syria to meet Erdogan, fears of renewed ISIS activity

 Bashar al-Assad met the enthusiasm of the head of the Turkish occupation state to hold a summit between them coldly, setting conditions, including the "exit of the Turkish occupation from the Syrian territories," while experts and political analysts confirmed that there are real fears of renewed activity of ISIS mercenaries in Syria and Iraq in the presence of sleeper cells;  operations are carried out in them.

​​​​​​​Panorama of week.. Al-Assad demands Turkish occupation to leave Syria to meet Erdogan, fears of renewed ISIS activity
15 January, 2023   01:54
 Newsdesk

 The Arab newspapers issued during the past week dealt with the rapprochement between the Turkish occupation state and the Damascus government, and fears of the return of ISIS in Syria, Iraq and the Sudanese issue.

 Al-Assad sets his conditions before meeting Erdogan: ending the occupation first

 The beginning of the rapprochement between the Turkish occupation state and the Damascus government, Al-Arab newspaper said: "The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad met the enthusiasm of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to meet a summit between them coldly, throwing his conditions for holding such a meeting, including the exit of what he called the Turkish occupation from the Syrian lands,  in a move that observers said shows that the Syrian president is not enthusiastic about rapprochement with Ankara, which was evident by his hinting at preferring an indirect dialogue with Ankara mediated by Russia instead of a direct meeting with Erdogan.

 On Thursday, the Syrian President considered, according to a statement issued by the Presidency, that the Syrian-Turkish meetings, sponsored by Russia, must be based on ending the “occupation,” that is, the Turkish military presence, “in order for them to be fruitful,” in his first comment on the successive Turkish statements made.  It talks about rapprochement between the two countries after a break that lasted 11 years.

 Al-Assad said after his meeting with the Russian President’s special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, that “in order for these meetings to be fruitful, they must be based on prior coordination and planning between Syria and Russia in order to reach the tangible goals and results that Syria wants from these meetings based on the state’s national constants and principles and the people are based on ending the occupation and stopping support for terrorism.”

Recently, the Turkish president has been declaring his desire to hold a direct meeting with Assad, and that he has offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold a tripartite summit that brings them together with Assad. Damascus has maintained its silence over the past months, and this is Assad's first comment on the idea of ​​rapprochement with Ankara.

 As for Damascus, the problem that hinders meeting Erdogan and Assad is the contradiction between the Turkish president's statements and actions, as he controls Syrian lands through agents, and does not stop carrying out operations inside Syria, while at the same time pretending to seek dialogue.

 Ankara's acknowledgment of the territorial integrity of Syria and Erdogan's explicit acknowledgment that his country has no ambitions in the Syrian lands do not change many equations on the ground. Turkey says the same thing about respecting Iraq's sovereignty over its lands, but it violates this sovereignty almost every day.  It does not intend to withdraw its forces from the bases it has established inside Iraqi territory, which applies to Syria as well.  While Ankara was unable to establish a wide security area under its control on the border strip between it and Syria, nothing suggests that it could abandon its bases inside Syria.

 Fears of renewed ISIS activity in Syria and Iraq

 Beginning with the file of ISIS mercenaries, the UAE newspaper Al-Ittihad said: "Experts and political analysts confirmed that the international community's fears exist about the renewal of ISIS terrorist activity in Syria and Iraq, especially in light of the presence of sleeper cells that carry out terrorist operations from time to time, taking advantage of the lack of  political and security stability in them.

 The terrorist organization intensified its activities again in Syria by carrying out more than one attack during the past days, which was met by counter-operations by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Global Coalition, which announced a few days ago the arrest of more than 100 elements in an 8-day operation targeting the organization.

The Iraqi academic and political analyst, Dr. Abdul Karim Al-Wazzan, expected the possibility of an increase in the pace of ISIS operations in Syria and Iraq.  Due to several factors, the most important of which is security chaos, and economic, political and social instability.

 Al-Wazzan confirmed, in a statement to Al-Ittihad, that the situation requires real international cooperation, a solid economy, and awareness of the impact of the spread of the terrorist organization on the stability of the region.

 In turn, the spokesman for the Syrian National Coordination Committee, Munther Al-Khaddam, explained in a statement to Al-Ittihad that the terrorist organization “ISIS” had suffered a major defeat in Syria and Iraq, and what remained of it were just remnants that did not pose a serious threat, but there are those who invest in these remnants as an excuse to stay in power.  Region.  A few days ago, 12 workers from an oil field under the control of the Syrian government were killed in the east of the country, as a result of a surprise attack attributed to ISIS.

The Syrian political analyst Ibrahim Kaban revealed that the return of ISIS is related to strategic reasons and has to do with the countries that fund it, to create unrest and problems, considering that the emergence of ISIS has become clear at this time and its expansion into sensitive areas.

 Kaban added, in a statement to Al-Ittihad, that there are international parties directly related to supporting ISIS to serve its interests in Syria, and that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have intensified their operations;  to pursue the remnants of the organization.

 According to Kaban, "ISIS" has ended on the ground, but there are groups and cells that have grown and multiplied in areas such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor during the last period, and he expected them to appear more strongly after they developed their methods and intelligence relations.

 Sudan.. Practical steps towards the final agreement

 Regarding the Sudanese issue, Al-Bayan newspaper said: "An advanced step taken by the Sudanese parties in order to end the crisis in the country, as the final stage of the political process that is being facilitated by the tripartite mechanism consisting of the United Nations, the African Union and IGAD, has practically started.

 What distinguishes the political process currently underway in Sudan is the exit of the military component from the political scene, and giving way to the civil forces to lay the foundations for managing the transitional period, with an emphasis on the importance of reform while benefiting from the failures that accompanied the previous transitional period, in addition to evaluating and correcting the Juba Peace Agreement, and reviewing  The experience of the committee to remove empowerment and dismantle the 30th of June regime.

 In addition to including the issue of eastern Sudan within the arrangements for the expected final agreement.

 Political analyst Mujahid Abdullah assures Al-Bayan that the current political process is the most suitable opportunity for the Sudanese.  to achieve their aspirations for stability.

 He pointed out that the framework agreement and the regional and international support it found is an advanced step towards reaching a final agreement on the country's crisis, especially since there is a general mood in Sudan that has formed the need to end the current situation and fill the political and constitutional vacuum that has negatively affected all sectors of life.

 (d p)