Even as the conflict in Syria enters its final stages and is becoming a political issue rather than a military one, several outstanding issues remain unresolved that prevent the war from moving beyond its military phase. As of today, there are two military issues: the Idlib province is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the area east of the Euphrates River is held by Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Unfortunately, parties with vested interests in rebuilding Syria haven’t been able to form and launch a Syrian Constitutional Committee, which would catalyze the political process in Syria. Without finding a proper compromise between all parties involved on these important issues, it is going to be almost impossible to move forward with conflict settlement.The two aforementioned areas in Syria border Turkey, which makes it extremely important for Ankara to find a solution that takes into account its security concerns and interests. As long as Russia is heavily involved in the conflict settlement process, the Moscow-Ankara track in the Syrian will remain at the forefront.At the end of April, Damascus and Moscow launched a limited offensive in north Hama and south Idlib after increased attacks on Russia’s military infrastructure in the area. This has been a red line for Moscow for a long time. Now, it appears that this limited offensive might be a bid to pressure the rebels and Turkish cosponsors into reaching a compromise. At the same time, there is the possibility that the offensive could create tensions between Moscow and Ankara, which also might prompt Turkey to strike a deal with the United States at Russia’s expense.