Manbij: Syria's Focal Point for Military Power Struggle

PERSPECTIVES | Turkey and Russia have begun a partnership in Syria since Turkey entered the civil war to combat what it claims is Kurdish insurgency. What does it mean for the Kurds now that the U.S. is leaving the country? Our Mohammad Al-Kassim, Owen Alterman and Mike Wagenheim analyze. Story: Russia and Turkey on Saturday agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria after last week's shock announcement of a US military withdrawal, Moscow's top diplomat said. 'Of course we paid special attention to new circumstances which appeared in connection with the announced US military pullout,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow. 'An understanding was reached of how military representatives of Russia and Turkey will continue to coordinate their steps on the ground under new conditions with a view to finally rooting out terrorist threats in Syria,' Lavrov said. Turkey's Foreign Minister Cavusoglu added that Moscow and Ankara plan to assist refugees returning home to Syria. 'We will continue active work (and) coordination with our Russian colleagues and colleagues from Iran to speed up the arrival of a political settlement in the Syrian Republic,' he said. In an unexpected move, US President Donald Trump last week declared that the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group had been "knocked" out, making the US presence in Syria obsolete. Trump therefore announced he was pulling all 2,000 US troops from Syria. Although IS has lost nearly all its territory in Syria, thousands of jihadists remain in the warn torn country. On Friday, Russia said it would host a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran on the Syrian conflict early next year. Since 2016, the three main power brokers in Syria have held their own talks simultaneously with the official UN talks in Geneva. In December 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to hold Syria peace talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. It quickly became evident the tripartite talks between Iran, Russia and Turkey was the venue where actual policy was made. All three countries have their own stakes in Syria's future but Russia is widely seen as the main power broker.Another actor in the neighborhood which continues to act in Syria is Israel. The Jewish state has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, targeting Iranian military bases as well as weapon convoys en route from Tehran to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel insists it has the right to prevent Iran from consolidating itself in Syria, bombing targets close to Syrian and Russian military bases if necessary. For more, see our ⬇ Website Articles: https://www.i24news.tv/en Live: https://video.i24news.tv/page/live?cl... (Subscription) Replay: https://video.i24news.tv/page/5a97bcc... (Subscription) Social Media Facebook:   / i24newsen   Twitter:   / i24news_en   Instagram:   / i24news