There are also proposals for local ceasefires that might lay the foundation for a general peace agreement. The UN's special envoy to Syria, Staffen de Mistura, is trying to work out an armistice in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Russia supports the proposal and de Mistura said the Damascus government expressed "constructive interest" in such an agreement.
De Mistrua met Dec. 7 with Hadi al-Bahra of the western-backed National Coalition and the following day with various rebel groups in Gaziantep
According to Al Monitor, the plan would "focus on the real threat of terrorism as defined by the resolutions of the Security Council," reduce violence, and move toward a "political solution." Under the terms of the ceasefire, all groups would keep their arms. This latter point is an important one, because an earlier ceasefire in Homs required disarmament, an action that many of the opposition groups interpreted as surrender.
But the Erdogan government is not happy with a focus on "terrorism" that doesn't include the Assad government, a posture that has isolated Turkey regionally and internationally. At the 60-nation meeting in Brussels on Dec. 3, Turkey's argument equating the ISIS and the PKK received zero support. "Erdogan's fixation with regime change in Syria has blinded his practical decision-making," Suat Kiniklioglu, a former member of Parliament for the President's Justice and Development Party told the Financial Times.
Ankara's obstinacy around Kobani touched off riots that killed more than 30 people in Kurdish towns and villages all over Turkey and threatens to derail one of the Erdogan's more successful initiatives, peace with the Kurds.
Ankara is certainly in a position to cause trouble. It has already permitted rebel groups, including ISIS, to infiltrate fighters and supplies through its long border with Syria, and it is hard to imagine a lasting peace without a buy-in from Turkey.
The Erdogan government is not the only player in the Middle East that would like to see the Syrian civil war continue. Israel has been aiding rebel forces in Southern Syria and has bombed suspected government weapons depots on several occasions.
Getting all the rebel groups on board will be no picnic either. The ISIS is not interested in talking with anyone, and the Free Syrian Army has little support inside the country. The Kurds are willing to talk, but about what? Autonomy? The very thing that Ankara fears the most? Will the newly resurgent Republicans in the Congress -- including some Democrats and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton -- balk at anything that keeps Assad in power, if only temporarily? And in the end, the Syrian government may be deluded into thinking it can win a military victory.
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