For the moment, sanity prevailed and it seems that the Third World War is not going to start around Syria; just as the Second did not begin in Spain, where the opposing camps were already defined. It is not the only feature by which the war in Syria reminds us of the Spanish Civil War.

Like that preWWII war The one in Syria has also served to test new weapons and new techniques of subversion and media propaganda.

As for the new weapons, the Islamic Salafist terrorists, who are financed by Oman and Saudi Arabia, were equipped with the most modern anti-tank and computer weapons that the United States sells to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Those new weapons are more complex to handle and use properly than the proverbial Kalashnikov. So it was necessary for the CIA to set up training centers in Jordan and Turkey where those former throat-cutters could be turned into a sort of Islamic infantry slaughter bands and make them operational. Once introduced into Syria, they were also given different aliases to disguise their uniformity and hint at spontaneous diversity. So the public is fed an ever changing list of exotic Arab sound labels of different bands engaging Salafists coming from very different countries, who may change bands and are continually reclassified into good terrorists (rebels) and less good terrorists (moderates). But since the beginning of the war in Syria, we are given to believe that those same bands, through the work and magic of the media, have become devout Muslims fighting for democracy (Saudi style?), in a heroic struggle against the impious Baathist dictatorship, of a promiscuous lay debauchery, headed by Dr. Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus.

The Turkish invasion of the Syrian province of Idlib, to support the Salafist terrorists, about to be destroyed by the Syrian Arab army; has revealed new weapons and tactics allegedly developed by NATO; I mean the efficient use of drones, by the Turkish invading army, to attack the armored vehicles of the Syrian army.

The Russians, in turn, have proven their advantage and aerial supremacy over the Syrian sky, training pilots in the use of their newest models of attack aircraft and checking the accuracy and effectiveness of their air-to-ground missiles, that supported the attacks of the Syrian Infantry. In addition, Russia had a chance to show off to the NATO partners the spectacular accuracy and range of their Kalibr cruise missiles. Fired from small boats sailing in the Caspian Sea at 1400 km. away from their intended target, their low flight altitude and high speed makes them easy to see but impossible to intercept. The military escalation in Idbib between Syrian defenders and Turkish invaders reached a level where there was a danger of a direct intervention of Russia against Turkey to put an end once and for ever the Idlib Salafist hive.

Erdogan understood his miscalculation and asked for a hearing from Putin to achieve a truce that would allow him to pull his troops out of Syria The meeting between Putin and Erdogan was friendly because they have a wide range of common interests.

They agreed to a truce freezing the existing positions at midnight on 06/03/2020.

With this agreement, the Syrian army retains all the territory liberated in its last offensive. A very important issue is that the M5 motorway, which connects Damascus with Aleppo is completely in the hands of the Assad government. Motorway M4 was the other strategic goal for the Syrian army, because it connects Aleppo and Idlib with Latakia in the Mediterranean. The presence of the Salafists controlling the entire province of Idlib is favoured by Washington, because it kept Aleppo isolated, hindering its rapid post-war reconstruction model, not only for anti-Assad propaganda reasons, but also because Aleppo is one of the terminals planned to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the giant Chinese infrastructure project known as the New Silk Road, that for Washington is anathema; because it is a project that will relegate it to a marginal place in trade with Europe.

Highway M4, which is directly linked to transport infrastructure, will evict all Salafists from a 12-kilometer wide strip at both sides of the M4. The strip will be jointly patrolled by Russian and Turkish military units.

The solution is Solomonic with compromise, ensuring respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and moving Ankara away from Washington, inasmuch as it links Turkey with the specific economic interests of the Near East. Despite Washington’s ambitions, geography puts it on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Almeria 06/03/2020