ZCZC
BFF-35
SYRIA-CONFLICT-TURKEY-US-DIPLOMACY
US, Turkey stage joint patrols in northeast Syria
ANKARA, Sept 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US and Turkey launched a second round
of joint patrols in northeastern Syria on Tuesday as part of plans to create
a “safe” buffer zone, the Turkish defence ministry said.
Four Turkish armoured vehicles crossed the border to join US forces in
Syria, state news agency Anadolu said, for patrols around the town of Tal
Abyad.
The ministry said drones were also deployed.
Washington and Ankara reached a deal last month to establish a safe zone
between the Turkish border and Syrian areas east of the Euphrates river
controlled by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The first joint patrols were conducted on September 8.
The United States views the YPG as a close ally in the fight against the
Islamic State (IS) group.
But Ankara says the YPG is a terrorist militia linked to the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey
since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and the
European Union.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch
a cross-border offensive against the YPG.
He said at the weekend that plans for a unilateral operation had been
completed in case there was not adequate progress in establishing the buffer
zone by the end of September.
The Turkish military, supporting Syrian opposition fighters, has conducted
two offensives in northern Syria against IS and the YPG in 2016 and 2018.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1717 hrs