The urgent conversation Trump, Putin need to have about Syria
As Idlib refugee crisis grows, US risks superpower confrontation over missiles.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week said that a military escalation in Idlib is “a matter of time” unless President Bashar al-Assad’s army withdraws to de-escalation boundaries agreed with Russia back in September 2018.
If the United States provides Patriot missile defense systems to Turkey, as Ankara has asked, it could further embolden Erdogan. The result could be an escalation that would exacerbate the terrible suffering of the Syrian people, while increasing the risk of a US-Russian confrontation in Syria.
This, therefore, could be a prime time for the Trump administration to address the crisis in Syria, but not just in the narrow sense of the Turkish military request. Others are already stepping in. UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres has called for an immediate cease-fire. But given the deadlock at the UN Security Council, which is vital to any progress in Syria, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin probably need to talk and see if some common ground can be found..
Turkey seeks a US lifeline
