Russia and Turkey reach a deal to remove Kurdish YPG forces from the border..

Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin shake hands after making the agreement. Reuters. 

Russia and Turkey have reached a deal to remove Kurdish YPG forces from the border and ending Turkish operations in the area. Reuters. The deal will allow Russian and Syrian troops to re-enter the Kurdish region and will ensure that the YPG is no active in the 10 mile "safe zone". America, who recently withdrew from the area, reportedly supports the safe zone with Vice President Mike Pence saying that he approved. Most Kurdish fighters, including the Kurdish led Syria Defense Force (SDF) have pulled out of the safe zone but a few fighters still remain. 

My Comment:

I think everyone expected this deal to happen. There has been a lot of diplomatic overtures going on in the background between Russia, Turkey and the United States. Indeed, I thought this was in the works right as the US withdrawal and the Turkish offensive was announced. It's not at all surprising that this deal was made. 

This seems like a  win/win situation for pretty much everyone involved. All parties get something they want and though it's not a perfect solution it's one that seems relatively fair for all parties involved. 

For the United States we finally get to pull our troops out of Northern Syria. Our mission to defeat ISIS is complete and if they ever come back we still have the al-Tanf garrison in Southwest Syria to launch operations from. Our Kuridsh allies get somewhat screwed but not as bad as they would have been if the Turks had continued their invasion. 

The Turks get their safe zone. They will now have the Syrian government and their Russian allies to protect their border from cross-border Kurdish raids. This was always their true goal and their border should be somewhat more safe now. Plus they can dump their thousands of refugees in the safe zone, solving a second problem at the same time. 

The Russians get the international prestige of solving this issue and possible closer relations with both the Turks and the United States. Their Syrian ally is now in a stronger position an they don't have to worry about ISIS coming back. 

The Syrians are probably the biggest winners. They aren't going to have to go to war with Turkey to get them to remove their troops, they will pull back on their own. Plus they are taking back a huge swath of territory that they have lost since the civil war. Once they finally take back Idlib province from the last remaining rebels and Jihadists they will have finally won their war. 

The Kurds probably get the least out of this but I consider this a win for them as well. They were facing a massive war against the Turks that they had little chance of winning. They would have been destroyed and eliminated but now they have their own safezone in Syria and it's likely that they will survive in the future. 

Could the deal fall apart? Of course it could. The Kurds could go back on their word and attack the Turks. The Syrians might fail in their obligations to patrol the border and the Russians might get tired of spending lives and money in Syria. And even ISIS could come back and be a threat.

But I don't think any of that will happen. Everyone has a stake in this deal working out. Failure isn't really an option but everyone gains if it does. Something stupid could always happen but in the end it will most likely work out.

I have noticed that the US media is largely ignoring this story. After a couple weeks of hysterical outrage over the US withdrawal there is very little coverage of this deal that will ensure that the Turks and Kurds won't be going to large scale war. I am guessing that President Trump won't get any credit from these cretins and that most media outlets that report it at all will try and spin it as a bad thing.