MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. The Russian military police and the Turkish forces have conducted the sixth patrol in northeastern Syria, aided by helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Russian Defense Ministry informed on Thursday.

"The sixth joint patrol of the Russian military police and the Turkish Armed Forces has conducted joint patrolling of a new area of the Syrian-Turkish border in northeastern Syria. Helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces have conducted patrolling of the area from the air," the ministry stated.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the joint patrol lasted for approximately two hours.

The patrol included Tigr and BTR-80 armored vehicles of the Russian military police and Kirpi armored vehicles of the Turkish border service, 8 units of military equipment in total. About 50 troops from both states took part in the patrol. Russian unmanned aerial vehicle Orlan-10 monitored the route.

Turkish operation in Syria

On October 9, Turkey launched a military incursion into northern Syria, codenaming it Operation Peace Spring, with the Turkish Armed Forces and the Ankara-backed Free Syrian Army carrying it out. Erdogan’s military campaign kicked off with airstrikes on the positions of the previously US-backed Kurdish units. The Erdogan government claimed that its goal is to clear the border area of what it calls ‘terrorists’ (Turkey’s broad label of the Kurdish forces) and establish a 30 km-long buffer zone in Syria’s north, where over 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey would resettle. Ankara’s incursion into Syria triggered an outcry in the region and across the world. The Syrian SANA news agency branded the operation as an act of aggression, while the international community condemned Erdogan’s military operation.

On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a memorandum on joint actions in northeastern Syria. According to the document, as of noon October 23, Russian military police and Syrian border guards started to monitor the withdrawal of Kurdish military formations to the depth of 30 km from the border. On the outcomes of the agreement, Ankara stated that it had suspended its large-scale military operation in the area. However, Turkey retains control over the territories where it plans to relocate Syrian refugees in the future.

The deadline for the Kurdish forces to withdraw expired on October 29. Turkey and Russia began joint patrolling in northeastern Syria on November 1.