A summit meeting between the Turkish and Russian leaders today in Moscow may be the last chance to work out a deal that avoids further calamity in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib where 3 million people are trapped and suffering.
FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2020 file photo, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right and Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, talk during a ceremony in Istanbul for the inauguration of the TurkStream pipeline. A summit meeting between the Turkish and Russian leaders scheduled for Thursday, March 5, 2020, may be the last chance to work out a deal that avoids a calamity in Syria's northwest.
Whatever deal they can work out, it will likely bring only a temporary halt in the punishing Moscow-backed onslaught by the military of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which threatens continued suffering for the 3 million people trapped in Idlib. Analysts say the move showed Erdogan’s desperation, especially after failing to get the desired assistance from NATO, and is likely to backfire as dramatic scenes reminiscent of the 2015 migrant crisis play out at the gates of Europe.
In October, a deal between the two leaders carved up the zone further east along the border, each deploying forces to fill the void after President Donald Trump’s abrupt order to withdraw U.S. forces there.
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