Syrian Kurds Agree To Damascus' Military Presence Near Turkish Border - Official

The Syrian military will place its soldiers near the border with Turkey without entering cities, Abed Hamad Mehbash, the co-chair of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria's Executive Council, said on Monday

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th October, 2019) The Syrian military will place its soldiers near the border with Turkey without entering cities, Abed Hamad Mehbash, the co-chair of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria's Executive Council, said on Monday.

On Sunday, the autonomous administration announced that it had reached an agreement with the Syrian authorities regarding Damascus' military presence in the region.

"The agreement that took place between the SDF [the Syrian Democratic Forces] and the Syrian government is a military agreement that includes the deployment of Syrian army forces along the border with the Turkish state from Manbij to Raqqa to Hasakah and Qamishlo to the last point in Deirk," Mehbash said, as quoted by the local Hawar news agency.

Mehbash added that the agreement covered only military cooperation, and that the Syrian troops would not be deployed to the cities themselves.

Last week, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria. Airstrikes began that same day in the town of Ras al-Ain in Hasakah province, while ground offensives were launched shortly afterward. The incursion is part of Ankara's long-standing goal to clear its Syria-facing border area of Islamic State terrorists (banned in Russia) and Kurdish militias, whom Ankara designate as terrorists.