Author: M Barbu

SOHR activists in the “de-escalation zone” have reported renewed heavy bombardment, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, on the frontlines of Miznaz and Kafrnouran in western Aleppo between opposition factions on one hand and the regime forces and their proxy faction on the other.

Meanwhile, regime factions have bombarded positions in Sfouhen, al-Futirah, Bayanin, and Fulayfil in the southern countryside of Idlib, amid flights by reconnaissance drones over Idlib.

More than 8,500 foreign fighters have been deported from Turkey since the start of the Syrian civil war 10 years ago, the Turkish Interior Ministry said Saturday.

Terror suspects from 102 countries were expelled, including 44 from the U.S. and 1,075 from EU states, according to a ministry statement. In the first 10 months of this year, 61 suspects from eight EU countries were deported.

Turkish military reinforcements pour into the frontlines with the Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, as Turkish-backed FSA factions stand on alert ahead of an imminent battle.

The Turkish army continues to send military reinforcements to the areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in northeastern Syria, amid ongoing Turkish threats against Kurdish forces in the area.

Russian jets raided areas in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, including Syrian displacements camps and former military headquarters of the armed Syrian opposition.

Anas Kaddour, an official at the Idlib News Center, reported that the Russian warplanes carried out on Saturday eight airstrikes, with high-explosive missiles on Salwa and Qah, north of Idlib, which are about six kilometers from the Turkish border.

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 18 months ago at Mariinsky Palace on a hilly bank of the Dnipro River, he saluted the honor guard with the traditional slogan Slava Ukraini! (“Glory to Ukraine!”). The honor guard returned the customary reply in seconds: “Glory to the Heroes!” Russia’s reaction may have been even faster. During the opening speeches to the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations, the Turkish president was as clear as ever when he said, “We attach importance to the protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, including the Crimea, whose annexation we do not recognize.” Again, Russia’s reaction was swift and unpleasant. It would seem that Turkey’s commitment to Ukraine outweighs its concern about Russia’s reaction.

The Arab word’s a veritable mess. The cosmic leadership deficit, the absence of legitimate institutions, the lack of transparency, disrespect for human rights, abysmal regard for gender equality, and too much conspiratorial thinking make it impossible to come to terms with the magnitude of the problems. In short, this region will remain broken, angry, and dysfunctional until the leaders who purport to take responsibility for governing these unhappy lands get their proverbial acts together. And that’s … well, a generational enterprise at best, and I suspect something that will take a good deal longer. Aaron David Miller (“Where Have all the Arab States Gone” Foreign Policy: 4/14/2015)