The_Times__6_March_2020

30 2GM Friday March 6 2020 | the times

Wo r l d

President Putin and President Erdogan
hammered out a ceasefire last night to
bring respite to civilians in northwest
Syria’s Idlib province and defuse ten-
sion between Ankara and Moscow.
Mr Erdogan said that the agreement
would go into effect in Syria’s last rebel
province at midnight. “We will imple-
ment a ceasefire, and after that we will
agree on the next steps,” the Turkish
leader said after six hours of talks at the
Kremlin.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minis-
ter, said that the Turkish and Russian
leaders had agreed to set up a security
corridor to separate the two sides in the
area. “We don’t always agree with our
Turkish partners in our evaluation of
what is occurring in Syria,” Mr Putin
said. “But every time, at the critical mo-
ments, we manage to find areas of com-
mon interest. This happened again this
time.”
However, Mr Erdogan warned that
Turkey would not “remain silent” in the
event of any attacks by Syrian govern-
ment forces. The ceasefire appeared to
be holding last night.
A day of crucial significance to the
3.5 million Syrians trapped in an area
slightly smaller than Somerset and to
the international community began
with a telling reminder of the human
cost of the nine-year war.
Russian airstrikes killed at least 16
civilians sheltering in a farm near the
town of Maarat Misrin in the province.
Witnesses told The Times that the jets
struck the poultry farm in the early
hours. Among the dead were said to be
nine women and up to five children.
There were 18 people injured.
“It was horrific, tens of people, mostly
women and children, were there,”
Ahmad Memar, a local activist, said.
“The dead bodies were everywhere. It
was a black night.”
Later in the morning, Mr Erdogan
took off for Moscow, armed with the
knowledge that in two weeks of
fighting, his artillery and drones had
inflicted substantial damage on the
Assad regime’s army. They had hit
tanks, missile systems and supply vehi-
cles, killing scores if not hundreds of
troops, and enabled a substantial rebel
counterattack. Three regime jets were
shot down this week.
The intervention has changed the
possible calculations behind Russian
support for President Assad’s advance
on Idlib, where rebels led by the jihad-
ists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are leading
a last stand against his forces.
It has come at a cost for the Turks,
too, with 60 of their men killed, includ-
ing 35 in one air attack last week. Two
Turkish soldiers were killed and three
wounded in Idlib yesterday. Fist fights
broke out in the Turkish parliament on
Wednesday as opposition parties chal-
lenged the president’s policies in Syria.

Mr Erdogan’s resort to force raised

the prospect of a direct confrontation

between Turkey and Russia, which

both sides have been keen to avoid.

“Tensions in the Idlib area have

escalated so much that it’s clear that

they require our direct personal con-

versation,” Mr Putin said at the start of

the meeting. He expressed his condo-

lences over the Turkish deaths, saying

that Syrian forces had been unaware

that Turkish troops were in the area.

Russia was initially outraged at the

Turkish intervention in Syria, claiming

that its air force was merely helping

Assad reclaim Syrian territory from

“terrorists”. The tone of statements by

the Russian foreign and defence minis-

tries changed as it became clear Mr

Aleppo

Idlib

Atareb

M5

Saraqeb

Nairab

Helicopter

shot down

Taftanaz

Assad

advance

SYRIA

TURKEY Aleppo

10 miles

Idlib

Atareb

M5MM

Regime’s

previous

position

Regime

Turkish-controlled zone

Assad advance

Rebels

Kurds

Turkish observation posts

16 civilians

killed in an

air strike Maarat Misrin

Putin and Erdogan

thrash out ceasefire

agreement for Idlib

Erdogan was not going to back down.

The Russia in Global Affairs think tank,

which is close to the Kremlin, said the

outcome of the meeting was “positive”,

but that it was merely a “temporary

solution” to the conflict. There will be

concern that, after a suitable period, the

regime will again begin bombarding

rebel-held areas, including civilians.

Some European leaders have backed

Mr Erdogan’s call for a safe zone, made

more urgent by Turkey’s threat to allow

hundreds of thousands of migrants to

head for sanctuary in Greece. Mr Erdo-

gan’s overriding concern is to prevent

the arrival of more refugees from Idlib.

President Assad gave an interview to

Russian TV before yesterday ’s summit,

accusing Mr Erdogan of launching

Turkey’s military campaign on the or-

ders of the United States. “I have

repeatedly said that Idlib, from a mili-

tary point of view, is an advanced

bridgehead, and they have done their

best to prevent its liberation to stop us

moving east,” Assad said.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist

who heads the LDPR, Russia’s third big-

gest parliamentary party, alleged that

the Turkish leader’s actions in Syria

were aimed at reviving the Ottoman

Empire. The conflict in Idlib would

decide the future of Russian-Turkish

relations, he said.

Syria
Marc Bennetts Moscow
Richard Spencer Beirut

Analysis

F

orce works.

Diplomats

have

repeatedly

told us there

is no military solution

to the Syrian crisis

but yesterday’s deal in

Moscow reminds us

that power does

indeed spring from

the barrel of a gun

(Richard Spencer

writes).

For seven years the

regime, backed by

Iran, Shia militias and

the Russian air force,

has driven back the

rebels.

But Turkey has

Nato’s second largest

army. When Ankara

decided to deploy it

against President

Assad, the effects

were clear to see.

Regime jets were shot

down. Russian-

supplied air defence

systems were

destroyed by Turkish

drones, which took

videos that were

replayed endlessly on

social media.

President Putin has

no desire for a fight

with Turkey and so he

had to give President

Erdogan some, if not

all, of what he wanted.

Mr Erdogan has, it

appears, some sort of

safe zone, and an end

to the press of

refugees on his

southern border.

More strikingly, he

has an agreement that

the Turkish army,

with its joint patrols

on the M4 highway,

has a formal role to

play in this part of

“sovereign” Syria,

whatever Assad says

about it being an

illegal occupation

force.

The Syrian regime

is not mentioned at all

in the communiqué

issued last night. That

is the price you pay if

your military is not up

to the job. You are

expunged from the

record.

It serves Mr Putin

and Mr Erdogan to

show they can carve

up Syria to suit their

interests. Both want

to be power-brokers

in the Middle East.

Mr Putin is, overall,

the winner — Mr

Erdogan had to give

up hope of returning

the ceasefire zone’s

border to where it

stood in 2018, but it

was a successful

outcome for both

parties.

As for the Syrians, it

was not clear last

night that either side

of the conflict was

even consulted before

the communiqué was

signed. Its closing

rubric said it was

being presented “in

the Turkish, Russian

and English

languages, all texts

having equal legal

force”.

There is no mention

of Arabic, the

language spoken by

the sides supposedly

fighting the war.

There could hardly be

a better token of how

much Syrians have

called the shots in a

conflict that has killed

so many of them.

A

s the lava

glowed red

in the

darkness,

Nik

Wallenda took his

first tentative steps on

to a high wire.

Sweating profusely

beneath his goggles,

the stuntman looked

down at the 1,100C

molten rock and

began to walk.

Wallenda, 41, was

crossing the Masaya

volcano in Nicaragua

in a feat that required

him to wear breathing

equipment as well as

eye protection.

The 1,800ft long

stunt, billed as the

“longest and highest

high wire walk ever

attempted” took more

than 31 minutes to

complete with

Wallenda, who was

born in Florida,

perspiring from the

heat emanating from

2,000 feet below. He

also had to contend

with poisonous gases

coming from the lava,

which can burn the

lungs and cause

dizziness. “It was

amazing... just being

able to see that

volcanic lava was

mesmerising,” he said.

The high winds

during the crossing,

which he completed

Daredevil walks

tightrope over

boiling lava lake