MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday voiced concern and urged restraint over a new Turkish operation to oust Kurdish militia from a northern Syrian enclave, with Moscow responding by withdrawing its troops from the zone in question.
“Moscow is concerned at this news. We call on the opposing parties to show restraint,” the foreign ministry said after the launch of an operation which has also drawn US warnings.
The Turkish incursion prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the issue with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Lavrov’s ministry said.
They discussed “measures to take aimed at securing stability in the north of the country,” it said on Facebook and agreed .
Moscow said the conversation was a US initiative.
The Russian defense ministry said its troops were withdrawing from around Afrin “to prevent potential provocation and exclude the threat to the life and wellbeing of Russian military” after Ankara launched a new air and ground operation to oust People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia.
Turkey deems the group a terror organization.
Reacting to the offensive, the Russian military criticized Washington for having “provoked an extremely negative reaction from Ankara” with “uncontrollable arms deliveries” to the US-backed rebel group.
Ankara had over recent days expressed fury over a US plan to train a 30,000-strong body of local fighters, including the YPG, as a “border security force.”
Pentagon officials backtracked midweek, insisting the force will operate within Syria to protect areas liberated from Islamic State after Turkish foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned of “irreversible damage” to Turkish-US relations.
A Russian army statement blasted what it termed “irresponsible acts on the part of the Americans in Syria (which) threaten to undermine the process of a peaceful resolution” of the conflict.
A defense ministry statement said Russia seeks a resolution “based on territorial integrity and respect for the country’s sovereignty.”
Following a partial December withdrawal of its troops from Syria, where Russia intervened on behalf of the regime in September 2015, “the main objective of Russian forces remaining in the country is to ensure respect of the truce in de-escalation zones,” the ministry said.
Moreover, a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament’s security committee said Saturday Moscow will support Syria diplomatically and will demand in the United Nations that Turkey halt its military operation in Syria’s Afrin.
“It is not only Syria that will demand this operation to stop. Russia will support this demand as well and will provide Syria with diplomatic assistance,” RIA quoted Franz Klintsevich as saying.
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Russia voices concern over Turkey operation in Syria
Russia voices concern over Turkey operation in Syria
Syria Kurds impose curfew in Qamishli ahead of govt forces entry
QAMISHLI: Kurdish forces imposed a curfew on Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, ahead of the deployment of government troops to the city, an AFP team reported.
The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakah and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobani on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state.
The Kurds had ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.
An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish security forces deployed in Qamishli and found the streets empty of civilians and shops closed after the curfew came into effect early on Tuesday.
It will remain in force until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.
The government convoy is expected to enter the city later on Tuesday and will include a limited number of forces and vehicles, according to Marwan Al-Ali, the Damascus-appointed head of internal security in Hasakah province.
The integration of Kurdish security forces into the interior ministry’s ranks will follow, he added.
Friday’s deal “seeks to unify Syrian territory,” including Kurdish areas, while also maintaining an ongoing ceasefire and introducing the “gradual integration” of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, according to the text of the agreement.
It was a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing vast areas of north and northeast Syria in battles against Daesh during the civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.
Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had previously said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull forces back from frontline positions in parts of the northeast, and from Kobani in the north.
He added that a “limited internal security force” would enter parts of Hasakah and Qamishli, but that “no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town.”
The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakah and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobani on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state.
The Kurds had ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.
An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish security forces deployed in Qamishli and found the streets empty of civilians and shops closed after the curfew came into effect early on Tuesday.
It will remain in force until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.
The government convoy is expected to enter the city later on Tuesday and will include a limited number of forces and vehicles, according to Marwan Al-Ali, the Damascus-appointed head of internal security in Hasakah province.
The integration of Kurdish security forces into the interior ministry’s ranks will follow, he added.
Friday’s deal “seeks to unify Syrian territory,” including Kurdish areas, while also maintaining an ongoing ceasefire and introducing the “gradual integration” of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, according to the text of the agreement.
It was a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing vast areas of north and northeast Syria in battles against Daesh during the civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.
Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had previously said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull forces back from frontline positions in parts of the northeast, and from Kobani in the north.
He added that a “limited internal security force” would enter parts of Hasakah and Qamishli, but that “no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town.”
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