www.zerohedge.com Russia’s response to the White House’s late Sunday shock announcement saying “Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria” has been relatively muted.
Though Trump reportedly told Erdogan the US won’t back the operation in a ‘last minute’ weekend phone call, it still appears a tacit US green light, considering American forces have now moved away from the Turkish border with northern Syria and are in a “wait and see” position.
While a Kremlin spokesman said in reaction that all foreign military forces ‘with illegal presence’ should leave Syria, and that “Syria’s territorial integrity must be preserved,” a looming American exit from the theater no doubt has Russian officials breathing a sigh of relief in terms of their number one defined priority — preserving and defending the Assad government.