Politico: Araghchi was seeking explanation in Damascus / Erdogan's big gamble in Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, has taken a big gamble in Syria? Politico, posing this question, wrote: While Bashar al-Assad's forces retreated from Aleppo in the face of a planned and astonishing attack by a coalition of Islamist militants in the northwest of the country, Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, had come to Damascus to find an answer to the emerging situation.

The fall of Syria's second-largest city to a coalition led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - which has separated from al-Qaeda - is not only a humiliation for Assad but also calls into question the position of his allies, namely Iran and to some extent Russia.

In 2016, Shiite militants under Iranian command - with the support of an extensive bombing campaign by Russia - helped Assad to recapture Aleppo from rebels who had controlled half of the city for about four years. Since then, Aleppo was expected to be secure in Assad's hands. However, last week it only took 72 hours for Aleppo to fall, reigniting the long-running Syrian civil war.

The author of this article further claims that after arriving in Damascus for urgent negotiations, Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, alleged that all these developments are "an Israeli regime conspiracy to destabilize the region." While blaming Zionists is easy for Tehran and perhaps Israeli missiles and air strikes have partially assisted the rebels, the fall of Aleppo is not much related to the ambitions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reshape the Middle East, but more to the condition of Assad's armed forces.

Where does Russia stand in all this? Like other key allies of Assad, namely Iran and Hezbollah, Moscow is also focused on other priorities - namely Ukraine. So far, Russian fighters have only conducted limited airstrikes in support of Assad's forces, fueling speculation that the Kremlin was aware of the impending attack and is not displeased with the increased pressure on Assad.

Moscow has also pressured Assad to reconcile with Erdogan and explore political solutions to end the civil war, which could open Syria to profitable trade for Russian companies and possibly ensure that no threat will endanger its strategic air and naval bases in Syria. In the summer, the Kremlin repeatedly tried to arrange face-to-face meetings between Syrian and Turkish leaders, but to no avail.

But now this effort may bear fruit. Despite all the talk of an Israeli conspiracy, Araghchi quickly went to Ankara this week to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. The two agreed that Turkey, Iran, and Russia should hold new trilateral negotiations to address this conflict. Araghchi said: "We have decided to bring our consultations and dialogues closer and, with God's grace, cooperate for further improvement of the situation towards peace and stability in our region." / Jamaran