Syrian regime media reported on Friday that the Syrian-Turkish-Russian meeting in Moscow concluded Ankara agreed to a full withdrawal from northern Syria.
The regime’s media quoted a source as saying the tripartite meeting in Moscow confirmed that the PKK poses “the greatest danger” to Syria and Turkey.
Interestingly, the defense ministers of Russia, Turkey and Syria and the heads of Syrian and Turkish intelligence held a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.
Hundreds of Syrians demonstrated in the country’s north and northwest on Friday, condemning the Turkish-Syrian rapprochement, two days after Moscow hosted the two countries’ defense ministers in its first official meeting since the conflict erupted in 2011.
In the city of Al-Bab, the largest city in northern Syria, which is under the control of Syrian factions loyal to Ankara, protesters raised opposition flags and several banners, one of which read: “From this last we will not be reconciled.”
Subhi Khabiyeh (54), a displaced person from rural Damascus, said during his attendance at the rally, “We do not reconcile, we cannot reconcile and we do not want to reconcile with al-Assad’s (President Bashar) regime.”
He added, addressing Turkey: “Don’t be of help to Assad against us, but be with us”, considering that “whoever wants to reconcile should do it, but we don’t want to reconcile Assad because he is a criminal. “
On Wednesday, Moscow brought together Russian defense ministers Sergei Shoigu, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar and Syrian Ali Mahmoud Abbas in three talks that touched on “ways to resolve the Syrian crisis and the refugee issue” as well as “efforts joint combat extremism groups,” according to Moscow.
The meeting came after various indications in recent months of rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara, considered the most important supporter of the political and military opposition since the outbreak of the conflict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had repeatedly called on Assad to resign at the outbreak of the conflict, calling him an “assassin”, has not ruled out the possibility of a meeting with him.
Several areas in northern Aleppo governorate, under the control of pro-Ankara Syrian factions, witnessed similar demonstrations, including Azaz, Jarabulus and Marea, under the banner of “We will die and not reconcile Assad”, according to the Syrian Observatory for human rights.
In the city of Idlib (northwest), which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), dozens of people took part in a demonstration, during which they chanted several slogans, including ” Erdogan, listen, listen, the blood of martyrs is not sold”.
Salwa Abdel Rahman said: “I have come to demonstrate against statements calling for a rapprochement with the criminal regime of Assad, which has displaced people and arrested hundreds of thousands”, adding: “If the whole world met, we would not reconcile with the criminal regime.”
