US, Turkey launch joint patrols in northeast Syria,

Sunday, 8 September 2019

The United States and Turkey on Sunday began joint patrols in northeastern Syria aimed at easing tensions between Ankara and US-backed Kurdish forces.

Six Turkish armored vehicles crossed the border to join US troops in Syria for their first joint patrol under a deal reached between Washington and Ankara, an AFP journalist reported.

Two helicopters overflew the area as the Turkish vehicles drove through an opening in the concrete wall erected between the two countries.

The agreement reached on August 7 aims to establish a “safe zone” between the Turkish border and the Syrian areas east of the Euphrates river controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units militia.

The YPG is an ally of the US but seen as a terrorist organisation by Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch an operation against the YPG in Syria unless progress is made on setting up the safe zone.

Erdogan said his US counterpart Donald Trump had promised it would be 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide.

A joint center of operations was recently established as part of the agreement.

Turkey previously conducted cross-border operations in northern Syria supporting Syrian rebels in 2016 against ISIS and in early 2018 against the YPG.

Ankara says the YPG militia is a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and the European Union.

Last Update: Sunday, 8 September 2019 KSA 12:04 - GMT 09:04

Turkish military enters Syria to begin joint U.S. 'safe zone' patrol

source: euronews.com

By Reuters• last updated: 08/09/2019 - 12:02

AKCAKALE, Turkey (Reuters) – Armed Turkish military vehicles crossed into Syria on Sunday and headed southwest with U.S. counterparts to begin planned joint patrols to establish a “safe zone” along a border region mainly controlled by Kurdish forces.

Vehicles with Turkish flags joined those in Syria with U.S. flags some 15 kilometres (nine miles) east of the Turkish border town of Akcakale, near Syria’s Tel Abyad. Two military helicopters were seen overhead.
The region east of the Euphrates river is mainly controlled by Kurdish YPG forces, U.S. allies that Ankara has labelled terrorists because it says they have links to Kurdish militants in Turkey.

After intensive negotiations, Turkey and the United States have also set up a joint operation centre but have so far disagreed over the zone’s depth and over the command structure of the forces to operate there.
The NATO allies have conducted multiple joint helicopter patrols over the area. Turkey, which hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees after eight years of war south of its border, hopes to resettle 1 million refugees in northern Syria.

“Our geography is an advantage, but we are at a disadvantage in terms of migration and terror,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a CNN Turk interview Sunday.

“If U.S. forces can patrol in the east of Euphrates with our forces and can enter with their own troops, and if there are the (Turkish) observation points in Idlib (in northwest Syria), this is all due to the steps taken by Turkey.”

With U.S. backing over the last four years, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance that the YPG spearheads has taken control of much of northeastern Syria from Islamic State militants.

Many of the inhabitants of the predominately Arab area that is expected to comprise the safe zone – including Tel Abyad, Ras al Ain and several Arab villages – had fled to Turke
y fearing reprisals by the YPG on charges they had links to Islamic State.
(Reporting by Murad Sezer near Akcakale; Additional reporting by Irem Koca in Istanbul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman; Writing by Jonathan Spicer; editing by John Stonestreet)

source:
aljazeera.com
straitstimes.com
arabnews.com