In european social media, the general interpretation is that RTE first offered Assad the hand of peace and then, when they refused to accept it, forced Assad to withdraw from Aleppo without losing a single soldier, even a meme about this has already become quite popular. Everyone, impartial or neutral, is trying to relate this operation to us, even though our official statements say exactly the opposite...
Don't listen to what politicians and diplomats say, look for what they do on the ground.
SNA is a fully controlled Turkish asset. They're an integral part of the operations from the beginning. Hence, there is litterally zero posibility that Turkey is not involved in this operation.
For the question of why we don't use our air power. That would mean a direct confrontation with Russian airforce, whom control our gas supply, nuclear power plant and big part of our export/import. we simply dont want to shoot down their aircrafts. the optics on late nigth Russian TV would be bad.
Hence, we have absolutely nothing to gain by making Russia an open enemy. Loosing a few mercenaries is an acceptable loss for Turkey in order to keep the gas flow. There are behind the scenes negotiations with the Russians. some info has already come out, like HTS stating that Russia is not the enemy or that Russia keeps a distance to Assad. Most likely, they will keep the naval port and a few airbases.
Furthermore, the HTS/SNA could not even take land faster even if they wished as evacuation reports are coming from Tel Rifat, Membic and all the way to Homs/Homa. so there is no need for airforce at this point.
As a side note, Turkish electronic warfare is fully active as there are reports that indicate SAA radio is complely down. Again, a clear sign that Turkey is active as HTS or SNA don't have EW capabilities.
The silence from USA and EU is also indicating that this is a american operation to support Israel by hindering Iranian influence in the region. Luckily, it also fits our goals so we participate. However, it is uncertain if we will gain anything east of the river but i suspect the F35 talks is part of the overall plans.
In the long run, this is all about China. USA has been boged down in iraq, Afganistan, Ukraine and Middle East for the last 20 years. Americans don't have anotjer 10 years to waste if they intend to be the top power in the next decade.
