U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis responded to a question about the downing of the Russian aircraft, stressing the incident only “complicates the situation between the Assad regime and Moscow. Mattis believes “it complicates the situation between the regime and Russians. It will have no effect on us whatsoever other than a reminder why we need to support the United Nations Special Envoy and end this thing.”
U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, used a meeting of the world body’s security council earlier this week to voice his support for a de-escalation deal for Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, that was agreed-upon between Russia and Turkey. According to De Mistura, the agreement provided a solid foundation for an internationally desired political process, saying that “we are pleased that there is a de-escalation in one major area, Idlib. And now that we have this deal, there is no reason not to move forward expeditiously with the political process.” Turkey, desperate to avoid an all-out conflict and a humanitarian crisis on its southern border, forged the surprise deal with Russia on Monday, to set up a demilitarized zone around Idlib, effectively holding-off an imminent attack.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that his militia would keep its military presence in Syria until further notice. In a televised speech to his supporters in Beirut, Nasrallah commended the outcome of the Iranian, Russian and Turkish diplomacy to spare Idlib a military offensive that could have led to a catastrophic humanitarian situation but stressed that only time would tell whether the agreement would hold. Regarding Hezbollah’s ongoing presence in Syria, Nasrallah asserted that if the Assad regime would ask Hezbollah to leave, only then would he consider the option of leaving Lebanon’s war-torn eastern neighbor. In his words, “The question once again arises about the presence of Hezbollah in Syria, to give you a quick reply, I’d say we will stay there, even after the settlement in Idlib. Our presence there is linked to the need and the consent of the Syrian leadership, I said earlier that no one can make us leave Syria.” While the question of Hezbollah leaving Syria “is off the table,” the leader of the most powerful Iranian-proxy indicated his plan to reduce the number of fighters in Syria, dependent on the threats posed to President Bashar al-Assad.