DAMASCUS, Oct 28 (NNN-SANA) – The Syrian government welcomes withdrawal of Kurdish forces from the Syrian-Turkish border, saying, this will strip Turkey of its pretext to attack northern Syrian areas, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry said, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pulled back 30 km from the Syrian-Turkish border, in coordination with the Syrian army.
The Syrian government will work to embrace its citizens and reintegrate them into the Syrian society, to achieve a national unity of Syria and its people.
Earlier in the day, the SDF began withdrawing from the Syrian-Turkish border, as part of a recent Russian-Turkish understanding.
Head of the media office of the SDF was cited by Russia Today TV as saying, the SDF withdrawal from the border comes after Russia made guarantees to them.
He said, the Syrian forces will be deployed on all the Syrian-Turkish border, adding, Russia is playing the role of a mediator between the Syrian government and the Kurdish administration in northern Syria.
On Oct 9, Turkey launched an operation to clear the Kurdish militia from northern Syria in the east of the Euphrates river, to eliminate what Turkey perceives as a threat to its border security, impose a safe zone and resettle millions of Syrian refugees.
On Oct 13, the Kurdish-led administration said, the Syrian army will deploy along the border with Turkey in an agreement with the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, to help repel a Turkish offensive.
The United States reached a deal with Turkey on Oct 17, imposing a five-day cease-fire, to allow the Kurdish forces to pull back from the planned safe zone that Turkey wants to create in northern Syria.
On Oct 22, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting in Sochi, Russia, agreeing on the parameters of the proposed Turkish safe zone in northern Syria.
The deal stipulates that the Kurdish militia of the SDF and its broader umbrella of the People’s Protection Units will pull back 30 km south of Turkey’s border.
Joint patrols by Turkish and Russian forces will cover the area, according to the deal.– NNN-SANA