Pencilneckal-Assad
Horror of Homs...
said there would be no meeting with his
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
’s forces withdraw from Syria.
Any meeting "is linked to our reaching the point when Turkey is ready — fully and without uncertainty — for a complete withdrawal from Syrian territory," Assad said during his visit to Moscow. "This is the only way in which my meeting with [
Assad also demanded Turkey end its "support for terrorism," referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS, formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front), as well as Islamist factions which form part of the
Turkey has occupied large swathes of northern Syria since 2016 with the help of the SNA, an opposition coalition funded by Ankara. Turkey has also closely cooperated with HTS in Idlib, which a number of governments, including Turkey’s, have deemed a terrorist group.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
, has pushed for a rapprochement between Assad and Erdogan. Talks between the two country’s defense ministers and intelligence chiefs, the highest-level diplomacy between Turkey and Syria since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, already took place in December. A meeting between the deputy foreign ministers of Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran
...The word Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both...
was set to take place between March 15-17.
Turkey is eager to reach a settlement with the government in Damascus in order to return millions of Syrian refugees, which have become a liability in the run-up to general and presidential elections in Turkey.
According to a
Assad also met with Putin while in Moscow. No reports of their conversations have yet been published, though Turkey was likely also on the agenda.