Baladi News
A Syrian opposition member revealed that several secret meetings had been held between the Russian army and the leader of Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham in the outskirts of Idlib province before and after Turkish observation points were deployed there.
The official spokesman for the opposition delegation in Astana, Ayman al-Asmi, said that Abu Muhammad al-Golani, or his representative, had met with Russian forces in the outskirts of Idlib province more than three times before and after the Turkish observation points were deployed, and that Moscow considered the group to be a force with weight on the ground and wanted to know its demands given that most of its members were Syrians and not all foreigners.
“Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham and the Syrian opposition are in one geographical spot and there are needs for a dialogue between them," Asmi said.
"This can be inferred from the deployment of the Turkish observation points, which were deployed without any disputes on the ground," he added, "but in the end, we do not want a battle—not with Tahrir al-Sham or any other entity. The reason is that in any battle, civilians pay the price.”
He said, “Tahrir al-Sham’s project and the Assad regime’s project are totally rejected in favor of the Syrian national project, but in the end we need to reach a compromise that protects civilians and does not force them to be displaced. If the breaches by Iran and Russia continue in northern Syria, this will be evidence of their efforts to derail the Astana process. They have the ability to pressure the regime to stop its indiscriminate attacks on civilians.”
According to Asmi, Moscow has been persuaded that military action against Idlib isn’t possible because of the fixed Turkish position around the area.
Source: The Syrian Observer.