The already tense situation in Syria has been recently complicated by the contradictions between the US and Russia. The US military continues to occupy a 55-kilometer area near Al-Tanf, which has become a shelter zone for the remaining members of ISIS. Moscow is also concerned over the the US actions on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, where they came close to an open confrontation with the Syrian army seeking to support their Kurdish allies. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, "the Americans have been provoking Turkey, sending arms convoys for the Kurds through its territory."
In return, Turkey has continued fighting the Kurds close to Afrin in the northwest of Syria as part of its Operation Olive Branch. The fighting in this area, in which Syrian armed opposition groups affiliated with Turkey are actively involved, was particularly fierce. Terrorists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) are still engaged in aggressive and provocative actions in the western part of the Eastern Ghouta de-escalation zone, including the heavy mortar-shelling of Damascus.
A senior researcher at the Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Boris Dolgov, believes that the progress in combating ISIS is obvious: "ISIS has been smashed as a military-political group, ISIS has no territories, no military and political structure, only fighters. But the fight against ISIS is only one of the components of the Syrian crisis: "There are tens of thousands of militants of the armed opposition in the Idlib area, in the zone of de-escalation. Jabhat al-Nusra, which is recognized as a terrorist group by the UN, represents a real force. These groups are, of course, supported by external actors, this is quite obvious as well. Creation of de-escalation zones was the right decision at some stage to reduce the level of armed confrontation, but these zones should exist only for six months. Further, they should become subject to the jurisdiction of the central Syrian government, which does not happen. External forces, primarily the US, are trying to use these de-escalation zones to decentralize Syria."
Taking into account the victory over ISIS and the fact that the government forces have restored their control over more than 70% of Syrian territory, the advisor to the deputy chairman of Russia's Federation Council, Andrey Baklanov, proposes to divide the problem of the Syrian settlement into two parts: "The first part is the process of peaceful settlement in the liberated territory. The second is processes in the de-escalation zones. The opposition had a chance to enter the negotiation process, but most of the opposition associations have failed to do it, losing the war. And now they should play by the rules of the Syrian regime. Damascus already has a ministry that deals with reconciliation issues. I think the Syrian authorities are wise enough to consider the point of view of opposition forces, and actually implement their promises - the construction of Syria in a new quality, with new members, with a wider scale of forces involved in state administration... Strengthening the existing regime is the way to go for the main part of the country. And the regime must involve the maximum possible number of sensible actors and various forces willing to cooperate."
