Announcement of the Constitutional Committee wouldn’t stop the military operations – Russian analyst

Russian political analyst Andrei Onetkov said the continuation of the military operations against the armed opposition groups headed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) despite the announcement of the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, stressing the need of restoring Idlib to the control of the Syrian government.

Andrei Onetkov told North-Press that the military operations and the limited strikes in the de-escalation zones in Idlib wouldn’t stop.

Ontekov linked the continuation of the military operations to the continued presence of the terrorist-listed groups regardless of the political process, adding that Russia has no problem with the present moderate armed groups in Idlib, and that it doesn’t target them, but the main problem is al-Nusra Front, as they will continue the fight against it.

The Russian analyst said that Idlib must return to the Syrian government’s control, and “there is no way for Idlib to remain under the control of these terrorist groups”, adding that the reconciliations that are being conducted by the Syrian government with the moderate groups and the fight against the terrorist groups such as al-Nusra Front is the only option for Idlib’s return to the government’s control.

The Russian politician said: “Russia will not carry out large-scale operations in the near future, in light of continued preparations by the Russian and Syrian government forces to control the highway of Hama-Aleppo”.

He explained that this is not related to the movements of the United Nations or the works of the Constitutional Committee, but related to the coordination with Turkey, “All the Russian military moves are conditioned by full coordination between Russia and Turkey, as the battle of Khan Sheikhoun was coordinated between Ankara and Moscow”, according to him.

He also pointed out that there will be strains and serious repercussions on Idlib in particular and Syria in general if there is no coordination with Turkey, so all the upcoming battles will be coordinated with the Turkish side.

Regarding whether Russia and the Syrian government would agree to the UN’s adoption of the political process, Ontkov said: “Since the beginning of the National Dialogue of Sochi, Russia has consistently maintained that it does not intend to have all the powers to draft the new constitution”.

Andrei Ontikov pointed out that when all concerned parties with the preparation of the Constitutional Commission were agreed upon, it was only to wait for the United Nations to take certain steps to start the works of this committee, adding that the main principle of Russia during this crisis is that the Syrians should determine their political life and the future of their country.