ISTANBUL ¨C With nearly 1 million displaced Syrians massing near the Turkish border in the face of a Syrian government military offensive, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan¡¯s options are narrowing. He feels blindsided by Russia¡¯s push into Syria¡¯s Idlib region and the risk of full-blown conflict is growing, but Turkey¡¯s Erdogan remains hopeful a deal with Moscow may offer a way out of the crisis, according to Turkish government officials and other sources.
Erdogan has repeatedly warned that Turkey, which backs rebels in Syria¡¯s northwest province, would push Syrian President Bashar Assad¡¯s troops away from territory taken in the recent months if they didn¡¯t pull back by the end of February.
But as Saturday¡¯s deadline has drawn closer, the Russia-backed Syrian offensive has continued to gain ground and a third round of talks between Ankara and Moscow this week were not expected to quickly break the deadlock.
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