Russia Mediates Syrian-Turkish Security Meeting in Moscow

Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)
Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)
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Russia Mediates Syrian-Turkish Security Meeting in Moscow

Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)
Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)

Government sources in Damascus said that Moscow hosted on Monday a trilateral security meeting for the heads of Turkish, Russian and Syrian intelligence.

Ali Mamluk, special security adviser to Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad met with Turkey's intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported on Monday.

Russia Today reported that during the meeting, the Syrians called on Ankara to fully respect the sovereignty of Syria, its independence and territorial integrity and ensure the immediate and full withdrawal of foreign forces from the whole Syrian territory.

The news agency added that the Syrians also allegedly demanded Ankara to honor the Sochi Agreement, signed on September 2018, which would entail “the freeing of Idlib from terrorists and heavy arms” as well as “unblocking the Aleppo-Latakia (M4) and Aleppo-Hama (M5) highways.”

Reuters reported that the two heads of intelligence met for the first time in years despite Ankara’s long-standing hostility to Assad.

US officials are meanwhile, seeking to convince European officials to replicate the Iranian scenario in Syria by following the policy of “maximum pressure” with Damascus.

This policy would use political, military and economic measures to push Moscow to exert pressure on the Syrian regime, which in return should present “substantial political concessions.”

Western diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that Washington already proposed 10 military, economic and political pressure tools to implement this policy.

Those tools include keeping the US military presence in northeast Syria and preventing Damascus from controlling oil and strategic resources.

The US is also advising Arab countries against any political or diplomatic normalization of ties with Syria and to refrain from investing in economic projects in the country, said the sources.

Washington is also trying to persuade several European countries to link any contribution in Syria’s reconstruction to making progress in the political process. It also advised them against reopening their embassies in Damascus.

The US should also impose sanctions on Damascus by quickly starting to implement the Caesar Act, which was recently approved by Congress and signed by US President Donald Trump.

The legislation sanctions the Syrian regime, including Assad, for war crimes against the Syrian population.



Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
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Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP

A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately.

Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Türkiye's port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023, Reuters reported.

On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Türkiye's despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output.

But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart.

Baghdad and the companies have not yet agreed how to restart the exports, a KRG government source said, while a source at Türkiye's Ceyhan said there was also no preparation at the terminal for a restart of flows.

On Thursday, a statement from KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the government had approved a joint understanding with the federal government and it was awaiting financial details.

Similar agreements in the past failed to secure a resumption in exports and it remains unclear if this deal will succeed.

Oil companies working in Kurdistan have previously demanded that their production-sharing contracts should remain unchanged and their debts of nearly $1 billion be settled under any agreement.

Oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan have been attacked by drones this week, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of the attacks, although no group has claimed responsibility.

They are the first such attacks on oilfields in the region and coincide with the first attacks in seven months on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen.

On Thursday a strike hit an oilfield operated by Norway's DNO in Tawke, the region's counter-terrorism service said.

It was the week's second strike on a site operated by DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Türkiye.

No casualties have been reported, but oil output in the region has been cut by between 140,000 bpd and 150,000 bpd, two energy officials said.