The Syria safe zone may not be as Turkey wanted

As soon as U.S. President Donald Trump said he was considering the formation of safe zones for Syrians trying to escape the six-year-old civil war, there was a reaction from Russia.

Dimitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the U.S. had not consulted with them on the project, adding that "probably all the consequences ought to be weighed up."

That was a clear warning from Putin to Trump, reminding him that what he is talking about is Syrian soil, where Russia stands firm behind the Bashar al-Assad regime. Another message was also clear: If you have a project in Syria, you have to tell us and we have to do it together.

That message is particularly important as it was Russia and Turkey who brokered a ceasefire in Syria between the regime and the rebel forces on Dec. 29, taking an important step to consolidate it with the help of Iran at the Astana talks on Jan. 23-24. Political talks on Syria are also due to be held in Geneva on Feb. 8. 

It is true that the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) - with the ground support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is mainly composed of the militia of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Unity Party (PYD) - achieved success in clearing a large part of northeastern Syria from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or DAESH in Arabic initials. That was despite ongoing objections from Turkey, the U.S.'s NATO partner, over the fact that the PYD is the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and the U.S. 

Ankara has voiced the formation of internationally protected safe zones to prevent mass migration from Syria ever since the early stages of the civil war. So one may think that Trump...