FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Al Monitor Suggests That Putin Is Organizing a Solution in Syria
May 21, 2018 (EIRNS)—Al Monitor’s “Week in Review” May 20 poses that Russian President Vladimir Putin is organizing a solution in Syria based on withdrawal of foreign forces. Titled “What Did Putin Mean by Withdrawing ‘Foreign Armed Forces’ from Syria?” it says that after the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Russia, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad quickly followed. They report that Vladimir Putin has become the “go-to” mediator between Iran and Israel, as “Moscow’s good offices are, for now, the only diplomatic venue available where both sides can pass messages and expect them to be faithfully delivered.”
The review writes that Assad, in his meeting with Putin, had
“finally embraced the need to form a committee tasked with drafting a Syrian Constitution. Assad had opposed the idea, for fear of eventually losing power or being traded off.”
Also, they say that Putin, after the meeting, said:
“We proceed from the assumption that in view of the significant victories and success achieved by the Syrian army in its fight against terrorism, and the start of a more active phase of the political process, foreign armed forces will be withdrawing from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
They conclude that it is not known whether President Trump will
“recognize and seize the prospect of Russian mediation, at a time when Iran is on defense and the Syrian people may be catching a glimmer of hope that this terrible war may actually be winding down.”
With Trump personally committed to pulling U.S. troops out, Putin appears to believe that all foreign entities with troops in Syria could be brought to an agreement to withdraw—U.S., Iranian, Turkish, Lebanese. He is talking to all of them, except the U.S.—another reason that a Trump-Putin Summit is essential.
