By Mahmoud Barakat
ANKARA (AA) – Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed agreed to pay $3 billion to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria to break the cease-fire in the country’s northwestern province of Idlib, according to a media report.
The news report published last Wednesday in London-based Middle East Eye (MEE) said bin Zayed sent senior official Ali al-Shamsi and national security adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed to Damascus to persuade Bashar al-Assad "to reignite the offensive against Idlib".
Citing anonymous sources, MEE said the visit took place before the Idlib cease-fire agreement — inked on March 5 between Turkey and Russia — adding that bin Zayed agreed to pay Assad $3 billion, and $1 billion of which was to be paid before the end of March.
"By the time the ceasefire was announced, $250m had already been paid up front," MEE said.
According to the report, Russia, which has military presence in Syria, was immediately aware of the Assad's military preparations to break the cease-fire; and President Vladimir Putin sent Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu on unplanned visit to dissuade the Syrian regime from flaring up the fight in Idlib.
Following Shoygu's visit, MEE said citing sources, that bin Zayed continued to push Assad to break the cease-fire and "a second tranche of the initial $1bn was delivered to Damascus."
Under the deal concluded on March 5, all military activities were to end in Idlib with the establishment of a security corridor six kilometers (3.7 miles) to the north and south of the key M4 highway.
Joint Turkish-Russian patrols agreed in the deal also began on March 15 along the highway from the settlement of Trumba — two kilometers (1.2 miles) to the west of Saraqib — to the settlement of Ain al-Havr.
