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Turkey fails to abide by Syria ceasefire, Kurdish commander says

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. Turkey has failed to abide by its obligations under the Syria ceasefire as it continues military activities in Syria’s border areas, Commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said on Twitter on Thursday.

"Turkey has not adhered to the ceasefire agreement with the USA and is continuing its war. Turkey, with jihadists, began to occupy Christian villages, trying to break into Tall Tamir dominated by Assyrians, and threatened with annihilation. The USA must fulfill its obligations," the tweet reads.

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 Turkish government claimed that its goal was to clear the border area of what it calls ‘terrorists’ (Ankara’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. On October 17, the United States, represented by Vice President Mike Pence, reached a deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pause Operation Peace Spring. Turkey consented to a 120-hour ceasefire so that Kurdish units making up the coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces could leave the areas of the border security zone that Ankara is attempting to create.

On October 22, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey signed a memorandum on joint actions to resolve the situation in northeastern Syria. According to the document, Russian military police units and Syrian troops were deployed to areas adjacent to the zone of Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring. Kurdish units were given 150 hours to pull out of the 30-km zone along the Syria-Turkey border, while Russian military police and Turkish troops are expected to launch joint patrols.

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Syria United States Turkey

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