The agreement reached on Idlib by the presidents of Russia and Turkey is a major achievement for Moscow and Damascus without either nation having to strike a single blow, former United Kingdom (UK) ambassador to Syria Peter Ford told Sputnik on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2018) The agreement reached on Idlib by the presidents of Russia and Turkey is a major achievement for Moscow and Damascus without either nation having to strike a single blow, former United Kingdom (UK) ambassador to Syria Peter Ford told Sputnik on Tuesday.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed during a meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi to set up a demilitarized zone in Idlib by October 15.
Ford hailed the agreement as a major diplomatic step forward for both Russia and Syria.
"It is a major victory for Russia and Syria without striking a blow," he said.
The agreement gave a major boost to the Syrian government's efforts to drive out and destroy the remaining Islamist extremist forces clustered in Idlib province, Ford explained.
"My view is that the memorandum of agreement on Idlib represents the first step in the gradual return of the province to government control," he said.
The deal provided a new framework for pressuring the Islamist extremists into evacuating a significant part of their last real foothold in Syria, Ford observed.
"Effectively, if implemented as planned - which is a big if - the armed groups lose a band of territory 15-20 kilometers [9-12 miles] deep, which is quite a lot. State institutions (except initially the army) will return to the liberated areas," he said.
But the Islamist forces oppose the agreement, and more violence looks unavoidable in efforts to implement it, Ford cautioned.
"The armed groups are unhappy with the deal and the Turkish government official briefing points local media towards the 'bigger battle' in the Kurdish controlled East of Syria," he said.
These developments were "sure signs" that Turkey has made significant concessions which have to be masked, Ford explained.
"Everybody now is working hard to save Turkish face," he said.
Under the agreement, territories that are under control of the Syrian opposition must be demilitarized, Erdogan said in Sochi.
The opposition forces that controlled these territories would remain there, but at the same time together with Russia, Turkey would take every effort to eliminate all radical groups from those territories, Erdogan added.
Ford was the UK's ambassador in Syria and Bahrain before joining the United Nations to work on refugee issues. He is the co-chairman of the British Syrian Society.
