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Executive Summary for March 7th

We review the key developments in Syria, including a Russian military cargo plane crashing in Syria, Moscow offering rebels in Eastern Ghouta safe exit from the area, and the SDF saying it will redeploy 1,700 fighters from eastern Syria to Afrin.

Published on March 7, 2018 Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Russian Cargo Plane Crashes in Syria

A Russian military cargo plane crashed near Moscow’s Hmeimim military base in Syria on Tuesday, killing all 39 people on board, the Associated Press reported, citing Russia’s defense ministry.

The An-26 jet crashed just 1,600ft (500m) from the runway as it was descending to land at the air base. The incident was caused by a technical error, the defense ministry said, without elaborating on the nature of the problem.

The 33 passengers and six crew members who were killed in Tuesday’s crash were all Russian servicemen.

Russian investigators have been dispatched to Syria to look into the incident, the AP said, citing the Interfax news agency.

This is the second time this year that a Russian aircraft has crashed in Syria. Last month, al-Qaida-linked insurgents shot down a Russian Su-25 fighter jet over Idlib province.

Russia Offers Safe Passage to Eastern Ghouta Militants

Russia has offered rebel fighters in Eastern Ghouta safe exit from the region if they agree to surrender their enclave to government forces, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Moscow did not specify where the rebels would exit to, but the Russian defense ministry said it would set up a secure corridor through which fighters could leave along with their families and personal weapons.

“The Russian Reconciliation Centre guarantees the immunity of all rebel fighters who take the decision to leave Eastern Ghouta with personal weapons and together with their families,” said the defense ministry statement. Vehicles would “be provided, and the entire route will be guarded,” it added.

More than one-third of Eastern Ghouta has fallen under government control since Damascus launched a ground offensive against the opposition enclave in recent weeks. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), government airstrikes and artillery attacks on the region have killed more than 800 people since February 18, Agence France-Presse reported.

Those include 24 people who were killed in government attacks on Tuesday, AFP said.

There are nearly 400,000 people trapped in the besieged suburbs with little access to food or medicine. The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution last month demanding a 30-day cease-fire to allow for medical evacuations and aid deliveries, but the agreement has yet to be enforced on the ground.

SDF to Deploy 1,700 Fighters to Afrin

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday said they would deploy 1,700 fighters from eastern Syria to a Kurdish enclave in the country’s north, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Kurdish SDF forces will pull out from the front lines against the so-called Islamic State in Deir Ezzor province to the enclave of Afrin, where the Kurdish YPG militia is battling Turkish troops and allied rebels, the SDF said at a news conference.

The announcement came one day after the Pentagon said that Turkey’s operations in Afrin have led to an “operational pause” in the fight against ISIS.

The SDF is working alongside the U.S.-led international coalition in areas near the Euphrates river, where they are battling the last remnants of the militant group. The U.S. has expressed concern that continued operations in Afrin will distract from the fight against ISIS in eastern Syria.

Omar al-Idlibi, an SDF commander, told AFP that “our people in Afrin are our priority. Protecting them is more important than the international coalition’s decisions.”

It was not immediately clear when exactly the redeployment would take place, but Idlibi said that it would happen in the coming week, according to AFP.

Turkey has been battling the YPG in Afrin since January 20. The SOHR claims that Turkey-backed forces have captured 40 percent of the Kurdish enclave since the start of the campaign.

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