While President Trump was very determined to insist that anything good happening in Syria was “created by us, the United States, and nobody else,” the evidence is pointing to substantial improvements in the regional situation coming more or less directly out of the new Russia-Turkey ceasefire deal.



In the hours after the Russia deal was signed, Turkey announced that they will push no further into Syrian territory. There would indeed be no need to, since Russia and Syria are going to expel Kurdish SDF forces from the area for them.



The US had tried to claim that all the SDF were already out of the region before the US ceasefire ended. Turkey disputed this and Russia seems to agree, promising to get them out in the 150 hour deal they reached. Russian DM Sergey Shogiu moved on to talk with the SDF head almost immediately after the announcement.



Trump is eager to spin the Turkish ceasefire as his accomplishment, even though Russia seems to be the one dotting all the is and crossing all the ts on Turkey’s demands.



The big difference seems to be Russia’s willingness to engage with Turkey on an equal footing about what could be offered, including joint patrols, as opposed to just unilaterally threatening to destroy their economy if things don’t work out.

Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz