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Conflict in Syria

Kurdish forces complete pullout from safety area in northeastern Syria — top brass

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

© AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad

YEREVAN, October 29. /TASS/. Kurdish forces have completed their pullout from the safe area in northeastern Syria under the Sochi agreement ahead of schedule, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.

"The pullout of the armed formations from the territory where a safe corridor is due to be created has been completed ahead of schedule. Both Syrian border guards and our military police have moved in," Shoigu said at talks with his Armenian counterpart David Tonoyan.

Read also

Top brass rejects reports of Russian military patrol coming under fire in Syria

Russia and Armenia have accumulated "vast experience in fighting international terrorism," the Russian defense chief stated.

The officers of both countries are actively gaining experience in Syria in humanitarian assistance and mine clearance, Shoigu noted.

"This process proceeds quite actively. More than 100 kilometers have been cleared of mines and a large number of various explosive devices, from mines and shells to munitions of multiple launch rocket systems, have been defused. Likewise, doctors are gaining huge experience by carrying out surgery and providing medical assistance to the population, which has suffered quite a lot over these years," the Russian defense minister stated.

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. 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 has triggered an outcry in the region and across the world.

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. Russia and Turkey are to begin the joint patrolling of the area 150 hours later.

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Syrian conflict

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