The withdrawal of US troops from Syria has created a power vacuum that could play into the hands of Russia, Turkey and Iran. Time is running out for Ankara to pick a side, experts told DW.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to discuss the last remaining rebel strongholds in the Syrian province of Idlib with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a summit Sochi on Thursday.
The two leaders’ had brokered a cease-fireto create a demilitarized buffer zone in the region . However, an al-Qaida-linked faction has tightened its grip on the region in recent months, with Russia describing it as a “terrorist nest.”
“Ankara promised Russia that Turkey would push out armed opposition forces from Idlib, but it could not keep its word,” Turkish expert Burak Bilgehan Özpetek told DW.
Russia is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad and increasingly impatient about militants in Idlib.
“We will do all we can to help the Syrian government and its armed forces to solve the problem of liberating their territory,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Iran also provides massive support to the Assad regime, while Turkey is allied with various opposition groups.
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