Syria’s terror-infested Idlib province is a thorn that needs removing, a military expert told RT, adding that the Syrian Army is capable of both freeing the area from terrorists and keeping civilians safe.
The Idlib de-escalation zone has “served its purpose and has to be cleared out as soon as possible”, as it’s become a “source of destabilization and threats” that impedes further peace process in Syria, Mikhail Khodarenok, a retired colonel, who worked at the main operational directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told RT.
‘Thorn that needs to be removed’
The region is controlled by various warring militant groups, including such terrorist organizations as the former Al Nusra Front (now known as Tahrir al-Sham). It poses considerable danger both to local civilians and other Syrian territories, as well as to the Russian forces stationed at the Khmeimim Air Base. The terrorists seek to derail the separation of extremist forces from other armed groups “in every possible way.”
At the same time, they also launch attacks against other Syrian regions using the Idlib facilities. In early August, Russian forces downed almost a dozen drones near Khmeimim, launched from the militant-held areas in Idlib within just a few days.
Earlier, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to the province that is mostly controlled by an Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as a “nest of terrorism” that remains an issue of “special concern” for Russia, Syria, and Turkey. He added that a “large group of terrorists had entrenched there,” undermining any attempts of diplomatic and political settlement.
Russia has also repeatedly warned about militants preparing a false-flag chemical weapons attack in the province. Moscow even providedthe proof of the planned provocation to the UN and Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
“Idlib is a thorn that needs to be removed as soon as possible, otherwise advancing the peace process in Syria simply won’t work,” Khodarenok said.
Will the war in Syria never end? Will the international proxy war and stand-off between Russia, the United States, Iran, and Israel simply continue to drift on, fueling Syria's fires for yet more years to come? It appears so according to an exclusive Washington Post report which says that President Trump has expressed a desire for complete 180 policy shift on Syria.
Only months ago the president expressed a desire "to get out" and pull the over 2,000 publicly acknowledged American military personnel from the country; but now, the new report finds, Trump has approved "an indefinite military and diplomatic effort in Syria".
The radical departure from Trump's prior outspokenness against militarily pursuing Syrian regime change, both on the campaign trail and during his first year in the White House, reportedly involves "a new strategy for an indefinitely extended military, diplomatic and economic effort there, according to senior State Department officials".
This even though one of the Pentagon's main justifications for being on Syrian soil in the first place — the destruction of ISIS — has already essentially happened as the terror group now holds no significant territory and has been driven completely underground.
But most worrisome about the Post report is that sources said to be close to White House policy planning on Syria suggest that Trump has made a commitment to pursuing regime change as a final goal.
Crucially, the report describes that "the administration has redefined its goals to include the exit of all Iranian military and proxy forces from Syria, and establishment of a stable, nonthreatening government acceptable to all Syrians and the international community."
Of course, there's the glaringly obvious issue of the fact that the most powerful top competing "alternatives" to the current government in Damascus include groups like Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which currently holds Idlib and is under direct allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahiri (as recently confirmed in the US State Department's own words).
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