Yup, Turkey and America still trying to carve up Syria

Viet Minh troops plant their flag over the captured 

French headquarters at Dien Bien Phu

The thing about sneaks is that they're always sneaking. Does the Syrian government have a countermeasure to this latest sneakery -- one that would be effective sometime this century? The Arab Weekly isn't sure. Their August 17 report, "US-Turkey ‘safe zone’ augurs fracturing of Syria into foreign areas of influence" quotes a Middle East Expert Joshua Landis, who told them in an email, “Syria is unlikely to be unified for a long time. Turkey has territorial ambitions in Syria. Many influential groups in US foreign policy circles are also saying that the US should remain in north Syria for the long haul, which is not promising.”

On the other hand, AW also quotes another Middle East Expert:

“The longer Damascus is excluded from certain areas of the country, the more facts are being created on the ground,” said Heiko Wimmen, project director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at the International Crisis Group. “Damascus has a lot of work to do in that respect, it could take a long time.”

However, it was far from certain that this development would lead to Syria being fractured as a state, Wimmen added by telephone. He pointed to the emergence of de facto zones of influence along the river Euphrates, with the Russian Air Force becoming dominant west of the river while the United States rules the skies east of it. This could end up making the Euphrates a dividing line inside Syria but that did not mean that the country would break apart along that line, Wimmen said.

Pundita, not being a Middle Eastern Expert, asks this question:  How many boxes of Kleenex would the U.S. and other Western NATO governments use up crying if Turkey met with a version of Dien Bien Phu in Syria?

Let's just get through the Idlib operation then see where things stand. Meanwhile, Iran's FARS news site has been busy translating from Russia's Sputnik Arabic language news site: 

Eastern Euphrates: [Syrian Arab] Tribal Leaders Call on Kurdish Militias to Hold Unconditional Talks with Damascus.

See also my August 17 post, Surprise! Betrayed Syrian Kurds turn to Assad for help.

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