A year later, did the Sochi agreement fail in Syria?

Aya Ezz

One year has passed since the Sochi agreement was signed on Sept. 17, 2018 between Russia and Turkey as a step to a ceasefire between terrorist militias and the Russian and Syrian troops on the other hand.

An important question looms over the fate and results of the agreement, and what has it achieved so far, whether the demilitarized zone or the two international routes connecting Aleppo-Latakia and Aleppo-Hama.

The agreement was announced as follows:

The Republic of Turkey and the Russian Federation, as guarantors of the observance of the ceasefire regime in the Syrian Arab Republic, in order to stabilize the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area as soon as possible, have agreed on the following:

– The Idlib de-escalation area will be preserved and Turkish observation posts will be fortified and continue to function.

– The Russian Federation will take all necessary measures to ensure that military operations and attacks on Idlib will be avoided and the existing status quo will be maintained.

– A demilitarized zone, 15-20 kms deep in the de-escalation area will be established.

– The delineation of exact lines of the demilitarised zone will be determined through further consultations.

– All radical terrorist groups will be removed from the demilitarized zone by October 15.

– All tanks, MLRS, artillery and mortars belonging to conflicting parties will be withdrawn from the demilitarized zone by October 10, 2018.

– Turkish and Russian Armed Forces will conduct coordinated patrols and monitoring with UAVs along the boundaries of the demilitarized zone.

With a view to ensuring free movement of local residents and goods and restoring trade and economic relations.

– Transit traffic on the routes M4 (Aleppo-Latakia) and M5 (Aleppo-Hama) will be restored by the end of 2018.

– Effective measures will be taken for ensuring sustainable ceasefire regime within the Idlib de-escalation area. In this regard, the functions of the Joint Iranian-Russian-Turkish Coordination Center will be enhanced.

– The two sides reiterated their determination to combat terrorism in Syria in all forms and manifestations.

According to Syrian news and reports, following the signing of the agreement, both Turkey and Russia have achieved tangible results, due to persistent violations by armed factions that rejected Sochi.

In addition, since the signing of the agreement to this day, aerial and artillery shelling by Russian forces has not stopped with the aim of eliminating armed groups, although this is unacceptable in the agreement.

In conjunction with the shelling, the armed factions continued to engage in constant battles with the Syrian National Army forces, and did allow the opening of international roads for the movement of trade and civilians, which is one of the main objectives in the Sochi Agreement.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is an active Salafist jihadist militant group involved in the Syrian Civil War. It managed to boost its existence following a merger between Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra Front), the Ansar al-Din Front, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq, and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement

The agreement was to conduct joint Turkish and Russian patrols in the demilitarized zone, but this has not been done as Turkey only deployed patrols in the areas controlled by armed factions.

Political science professor Abdulkhabir Attallah told The Referece in an interview that the sSochi agreement did not succeed, and will not succeed in the future, because of the lack of adherence by both Turkey and Russian.

Attallah further clarified that Russia is constantly bombing Idlib and the buffer zone to eliminate extremist groups, and Turkey on the other side continues to support terrorist groups to help them fight the Kurds, not to mention that the HTS still refuses to hand over weapons and is always attacking the Syrian national army, therefore, the agreement is considered nothing but a waste of time.