ANKARA, Nov 19 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish and Russian troops held the eighth round of joint patrol in northern Syria, under a deal reached last month, for withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish fighters, said Turkey’s Defence Ministry.
“Turkish and Russian units completed their eighth joint land patrol, according to plan with the participation of UAV’s in the east of the Euphrates. In the Ayn al-Arab region, where the land patrol was conducted, UAV’s also took part and were accompanied by four vehicles from each side totalling eight,” said the ministry.
Turkish and Russian units patrolled an area of 34 km in length and 10 km deep, the ministry noted.
The patrols are part of a memorandum between Ankara and Moscow, to remove fighters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), 30 km from the border.
Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
On Oct 22, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting in Sochi, Russia, agreeing on the pullout of the YPG fighters to 30 km south of Turkey’s border and the launch of joint patrols between Turkish and Russian soldiers 10 km from the Turkish border in an agreed region that excludes the city of Qamishli.– NNN-ANADOLU