Trilateral Summit in Tehran Fails to Achieve Cease Fire



Despite extraordinary efforts of Recep Erdogan of Turkey to reach an agreement Friday in Tehran during a “Trilateral Summit”  on a ceasefire in Idlib Syria with the leaders of Russia and Iran, Syria is free to continue its siege of Idlib with Iran and Russia’s support.

The United States has warned of escalation.

by Micheal John | micheal.john@fpmag.net | Editor

2018/09/07 T 17:50Z   Trilateral Summit Fails to Agree on cease Fire

Trilateral Summit Fails to Achieve Cease FireTrilateral Summit Fails to Achieve Cease Fire. Photo: Handout of Trilateral Summit Commemorative Plate

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations’ Syria envoy called for the establishment of UN-monitored evacuation corridor for civilians to voluntarily leave the war zone.

People should be granted safe passage to places of their own choosing if they want to leave temporarily. We must allow the opening of a sufficient number of protected voluntary evacuation routes for civilians in any direction,” he told the Security Council.

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De Mistura proposed that a deadline be set for all combattants – in particular the Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly known as al-Nusra Front) – to depart from populated areas and that no military attacks would be launched during the pullback.

“This would apply in particular for al-Nusra, who should be notified by the guarantors, in particular Turkey, which still has the capacity to send messages,” he said.

In a Canadian Wire Service news release, the civil society NGO The RINJ Foundation urged for immediate calm and a diplomatic solution

In the event that calm diplomacy fails to prevent an escalation, the world’s military superpowers will be in direct conflict.

Iranian Leader Hassan Rouhani demanded Friday an immediate withdrawal by American forces in Syria. The U.S. has an estimated 2,000 troops in four small pockets in the south and northern isolated regions of Syria. Rouani said Iran will “force the United States to leave”.