Putin, Raisi, Erdogan to discuss war on Syria in Tehran

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel Tuesday to Tehran for talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi about the war on Syria.

Moscow, Tehran, and Ankara have been engaged in the Astana peace process for years now, a forum meant to bring to a close the war on Syria that has been raging on for more than 11 years now.

The talks will come just after Erdogan pledged to launch military offensives in Syria that would further expand Ankara's occupation of the Arab country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on May 23 that the Turkish army intends to carry out military operations to "combat terrorism" at the Turkish state borders, explaining that his government "will start taking new steps to complete the safe zone 30 km north of Syria."

On June 14, Turkish media reported that Ankara's troops have taken combat formation and are all set to start Turkey's fifth military operation on the northern Syrian border, which it claims is aimed at the Kurdistan Workers' Party and its military wing, the YPG.

Raisi, on the other hand, already warned Ankara that any military action in Syria could destabilize the region, advising Turkey against such action.

Turkey has long been conducting military offensives in Syria under the guise of "combatting terrorism", with the NATO member's occupation soldiers conducting four military operations in Syria since 2016. Ankara's actions in Syria have been met with loud opposition from both Moscow and Tehran.

The summit in Tehran will also make for the first time that the Russian and Turkish counterparts meet since the start of the Ukraine war and the disputes between the two over Ankara's supply of UAVs to Kiev's forces.

Russian envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, said the possible Turkish military operation in northern Syria would create "new security threats" to Turkey, as "the Kurdistan Workers' Party and the SDF will not disappear under this scenario."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed from Damascus, Syria, that any foreign intervention in the region was rejected as it would only further complicate the situation. "Any Turkish military action in northern Syria would undermine stability in the region."