Moscow and Damascus strengthen positions ahead of shift change in Washington
If Aleppo comes under the control of the Syrian government before Donald Trump takes office as US President, it will become much more difficult for Bashar al-Assad’s opponents to demand his resignation.
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This opinion was expressed in an interview with Kommersant by the director of the Russia-East-West Center for Strategic Studies, Vladimir Sotnikov.
“The goal of Assad, as well as Russia and Iran behind him, is to make the most of two months of “timelessness” in the United States, when the presidential elections have passed, but the new administration has not yet begun work. They will try to confront Donald Trump with a fait accompli. If by the end of January, when he enters the White House, Aleppo is completely controlled by government troops, Damascus will conduct the upcoming negotiations on Syria from a position of strength, and no one will dare to raise the issue of Assad’s removal,” the expert noted.
According to him, it is no coincidence that the presidents of Russia and Turkey spoke on the phone twice within two days, discussing mainly the situation in Syria.
“It is logical to assume that during these negotiations, Erdogan received carte blanche for decisive steps by the Syrian authorities in Aleppo. Without Ankara's support, opposition groups, which until recently regularly received aid and weapons from Turkey, will find it extremely difficult to hold onto Aleppo. And in exchange for closing the border, Erdogan could demand freedom of hands in the Kurdish direction, which is what is most important to him,” Sotnikov suggested.
The purple line on the map outlines the territorial gains of Syrian government forces in Aleppo over the past few days. The yellow “spot” in the northwest is the Kurdish enclave.
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