Syria Update - Russian Peacekeepers in Manbij

danmanjones's picture

Russian military Police on patrol near Manbij | January 2019 | Syria

Russian military police have begun replacing the US patrols in the pivotal region of Manbij, Northern Syria.

 

The plan is that Russians move in & then the Syrian forces eventually take control.

This is largely due to the operational ties between the US & Russia being much stronger than that of US & Syria AFAIK.

 

The Syrian war map is extremely quiet right now (click to view interactive map)

 

Southfront sit rep (based on open source & state media)

 

 

Beyond Manbij

Turkey seems to have become the handlers of all terries in Idlib since HTS (al Nusra/al Qaeda) are taking it over from their Turkish-led counterparts (NLF) in a deal that could lead to confrontation with Syria/Russia when they look to retake the region. This is because HTS is not part of the ceasefire deal so have no protection against Syria looking to reestablish control in Idlib.

 

Everything that's happened since Trump announced the pullout so far has shown his instincts were correct. Get out & let Russia deal with it. It's a delicate situation for Russia not to fall into a quagmire & at the same time manage the web of alliances with Turkey becoming increasingly assertive.

 

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