Israel and the US not invited.
This will be interesting to watch, how Russia tries to prevent the Chinese from muscling into their sphere of influence.
I guess we will see if the Turks and Syrian/Russians really have cut a backroom deal whereby Syria lets Turkey take Afrin, in exchange for Turkey making the jihadis give up Idlib Province.
Even if they did cut such a deal though, none of them are likely to honor it, if they think they can now get something more.
Turkey has a huge military, especially compared to the rump of the Syrian Arab Army which still survives. But Turkey’s position has weakened dramatically with its collapsing economy and International isolation.
The whole Syrian mess has significantly cleared up through most of the country. Idlib will be the last major battle against rebels holding territory. After that, Turkey’s occupation in the North of Syria could become the main focus of the war.
Turks are geared toward mechanized, industrial era war on a defined front. The Iranians are geared toward subversion, guerrilla/terrorist tactics and surrogate local militias. The Turks may be significantly challenged in maintaining a long term occupation/annexation.
I expect that the Turks plan to pack their occupied region with Sunnis from among the refugee camps, and then have a referendum to secede from Syria and join Turkey. Significant ethnic cleansing of the native Kurdish population has already taken place.
By “rebels” they mean ISIS?