Brandon TurbevilleActivist Post
July 29, 2015
As the NATO Article 4 meeting concludes with little or no fanfare and no major decisions made regarding a “no-fly zone” over Syria, many onlookers may take the opportunity to sit back in satisfaction that the meeting was concluded without any announcement of further direct military involvement in Syrian affairs. For many, the lackluster meeting was simply more proof that Turkey and the United States will not attempt a frontal assault on the Middle Eastern country.
Unfortunately, however, the big decision was not made at the NATO Article 4 meeting, it was made bilaterally days before between Turkey and the United States.
The new agreement effectively creates a “buffer zone” that will span from the Turkish border line into Syria. It will extend from Azaz in the East to Jarablus in the West and as far south as al-Bab. The width of the zone would be about 68 miles and would extend around 40 miles deep into Syria, right on the doorstep of Aleppo.
The zone will be much smaller than that which Turkey and the United States have been calling for over the last few years and will not even stretch the length of the Turkey-Syria border. But it is a start.
True to form, the US and Turkey are attempting to obfuscate the fact that their new agreement is the creation of a no-fly zone by renaming it an “ISIL-free zone.” This is the same tactic used when the term “no-fly zone” and “buffer zone” began to draw too much ire from observers only a year ago. Then, the term became “safe zone.” Now, the NATO powers are playing semantics yet again and deeming the area an “ISIL-free zone” as if it were merely the unveiling of a new soda minus a crucial ingredient.
