03/09/2018
While the military situation remains largely unchanged, last week saw escalation of Russian statements regarding the future of Idlib.
The UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, during a conference in Geneva on August 30, called on Russia, Iran and Turkey to prevent a battle that bound to have catastrophic consequences for the 2.9 million people in Idlib. The UN envoy stressed the need to create safe passages to evacuate civilians to nearby areas controlled by the regime. Though De Mistura stated that the 10,000 al-Qaeda-linked fighters who are, along with their families, in Idlib are "terrorists” that aught to be vanquished, he stressed that a wide scale military attack against them cannot be justified in such a densely populated area.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, warned against the use of chemical weapons, stressing that any military operation in Idlib might lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe". He called on the Syrian regime and the rest of the parties "to exercise restraint” and to take all necessary measures to protect civilians. He also appealed to Turkey, Russia and Iran to intensify efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Idlib."
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stressed the need to avoid any military action on Idlib. Mogherini also maintained that European funding for reconstruction effort in Syria is conditioned upon a permanent political process under international auspices.
Turkey announced on August 31 its designation of the “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" as a "terrorist organization." This comes in the wake of Ankara's failed attempts to pressure HTS to resolve itself in order to undermine the Russian side attempt to frame the planned attack on Idlib as a measure to combat terrorism.
Despite this step, it appears that Russia is still threatening with military option. ORussia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on August 31 that Russia is negotiating to open humanitarian crossings in Idlib to minimize risks to civilians. He stresses that ,regardless of Ankara concerns, the decision to launch a military attack on Idlib is Damascus decision. He added that "the legitimate Syrian authority has every right to defend the sovereignty of the country and expel terrorists from its territory.”
Military and Intelligence negotiations continue at the highest level between Ankara and Moscow in an attempt to reach a compromise that will prevent the collapse of the Astana process. Russia, Turkey and Iran are all preparing for a summit that will be held in Iran on September 7.
Check the following link for the OPC’ Idlib Dashboard where we provide updated overview of the situation in Idlib by tracking and measuring several indicators linked to 5 main possible scenarios.
http://ixyria.info/en/update_03_09_2018.html