Putin did it his way

Putin's sudden announcement of partial withdrawal from Syria left us all stunned. Why would any leader withdraw his soldiers in the midst of a war? What is Putin after?

First of all, this is the only time when he could claim victory and was the exactly right time to say, "I have achieved my objectives." The cease-fire in Syria has been going on for two weeks, though not perfectly. In other words, there has been a shift from a search for a military solution to a political solution for Syria. In addition, the third round of the Geneva talks was held last week. Therefore the claim for a victory would be out of context and irrelevant if he were to wait a little bit more.

Moreover, from now on Putin will have to give his struggle at the table in Geneva rather than on the field.  This means that he will have to share the cake, the greater part of which he keeps a hold of at the moment. Hence time is up to show some heroism.

 Beyond all these reasons, Putin has changed the balance of power on the ground in his favor to the best of his ability. He has strengthened Assad's hand and provided him with a strong seat at the table in Geneva. He has also supported the PYD (Democratic Union Party) to the extent that he allowed them to open their first office abroad in Moscow. The fact that two days ago PYD declared autonomy in the three cantons in northern Syria (Rojava) is partly by means of this support.

Russia's crowning achievement has been securing permanent military bases in Syria, namely the ones in Tartus and Latakia. Russia will also continue to dominate Syria's airspace via the S-400 missile system it had deployed in the country right after its jet was shot down by Turkey. Besides, Putin has also used the Syria war to show the whole...