Moscow and Washington are secretly negotiating the creation of a security zone in Syria. In fairness, this topic was discussed at the end of May at a meeting in Jordan, where US Special Representative for Syria Michael Ratney and US President's Special Envoy for Combating the Islamic State (Banned in Russia) participated on the American side. Brett McGurk. As noted by the American edition of Al-Monitor, recently such contacts have become regular.
The Americans have been left out of the agreements reached by Russia, Iran and Turkey to create four zones of de-escalation in Syria, and are now trying to find a place in this process and determine what role they can play in it, taking into account the interests of their Middle Eastern allies - Israel and Jordan. Particular alarm is expressed by Tel Aviv, who says that he will not allow Iranians to "get entrenched" near the Israeli-Syrian border.
Russian-American negotiations took place more than once, but never made public.
Nevertheless, Washington attaches great importance to them - according to the publication, Republican Bob Corker, who heads the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said at one of his meetings about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's request that he delay the adoption by Congress of a decision on new anti-Russian sanctions while "he is working on Achievement of the agreement on Syria ".
In the White House, the question about these contacts with Moscow was avoided - the scandal had not yet abated and the investigation of the relations with Russia of the closest associates of US President Donald Trump.
However, as the Free Press (JV) writes, the informal consultations between the United States and Russia on Syria began much earlier than the time indicated by Al-Monitor. The Washington Post wrote in early April that talks between Kremlin officials and the creator of Blackwater Private Military Company (EWC), Eric Prince, took place in Seychelles, and the United Arab Emirates acted as mediator. The source of the JV, who is well acquainted with the situation, says that at that time an unofficial channel for negotiations between the new administration of the White House and Moscow was opened.
In his comments to the portal, expert from the Institute of the Middle East and the Russian Council for International Affairs Sergei Balmasov believes that the contacts between the US and Russia are predictable and logical. It is another matter how to reach a consensus when in the south of Syria the interests of longstanding opponents - Jordan with Israel and Syria with Iran -.
"The Americans have repeatedly demonstrated that the new administration will consider the problems of the allies," the expert notes..
He drew attention to the "activation of Iran and the forces under its control in the south and their attempts to advance to the border with Iraq," which provokes an unequivocally nervous reaction among regional players, and expresses the opinion that this can complicate relations between Moscow and Tehran, especially if The latter will begin the transfer of Shiite detachments from Iraq to Syria.
Balmasov believes that it is more difficult to conduct a dialogue in the south of Syria than in the north of the country, especially since participating in agreements on four de-escalation zones, Iran is not allowed to negotiate in Jordan.