Jeffrey: We are working to impede the return of Assad regime to Idlib

Former US envoy to Syria James Jeffrey said in an article for the “Wilson” Center for Research in Washington on Sunday, that his country is working to impede the return of Assad regime to Idlib.

The former US envoy emphasized support for the Turkish forces in Idlib, as part of its program to put pressure on the Assad regime.

James Jeffrey added that the Turkish army has deployed more than twenty thousand soldiers, dozens of bases, points, thousands of vehicles and missile platforms in Idlib and the countryside of Aleppo, to prevent any military operation by the Assad regime forces in those areas.

Jeffrey explained that his country is providing logistical and diplomatic support to Ankara to improve its military position and negotiate with Russia.

He added that any comprehensive operation in Idlib, as happened this spring, will be suicidal for the Assad regime forces.

He pointed out that Turkey wants to preserve the contact lines and does not want to make any barter between Idlib and other regions, and there is support from America and NATO for them in that.

Jeffrey considered that the end of the war in Syria is linked to increasing pressure on the Assad regime and its allies through several steps, the first of which lies in increasing political isolation and economic sanctions, in addition to the continued military pressure in northern Syria on the Assad regime.

Jeffrey stressed the need to continue the Israeli air strikes against the Assad regime forces and Iranian militias, in addition to keeping the American forces deployed in the northeast of the country and at the Al-Tanf base on the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Jeffrey concluded the fifth step, which is “military deterrence” by the United States, Britain and France against the use of chemical weapons and the continued emphasis in this direction