JEDDAH: Russian military police went into action on Monday to curb new clashes in northern Syria between Kurdish forces and fighters backed by Turkey.
The new deployment came ahead of talks in Russia on Tuesday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
They are expected to focus on Syria, where Turkey backs the opposition fighting Bashar Assad, while Russia supports the Assad regime.
New battles between Turkey-backed fighters and Kurdish forces have erupted near the town of Ain Issa, which sits on the M4 highway that links major Syrian cities.
Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies seized territory in the region in an offensive last year against the Kurdish YPG militia, which holds swaths of northern and eastern Syria.
A senior Turkish defense source said Ankara would use Tuesday’s meeting to push its demand for the withdrawal of the YPG, which it calls a terrorist organization.
“The YPG must definitely leave Ain Issa and there is a readiness to take every kind of step to this end,” the source said, requesting anonymity.
The YPG forms the military backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance which in recent years defeated Daesh in northeast Syria with the help of US air power. Ankara says the YPG is linked to insurgents in southeast Turkey.