First joint patrols begin
Turkey and Russia have launched joint patrols in northeastern Syria, under a deal that halted a Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters.
The Turkish Defence Ministry said an initial patrol yesterday covered an area 87 kilometres and 10km deep in the al-Darbasiyah region, assisted by drones. The Russian Defence Ministry said it included nine military vehicles, including a Russian armoured personnel carrier.
Turkey and Russia have agreed that the patrols will cover two sections, in the west and east of Turkey’s operation zone in Syria.
Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters now control the border towns of Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and nearby villages. The deal on the patrols excludes the city of Qamishli.
Turkey last month invaded northeastern Syria to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters, who it considers terrorists for their links to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.
The US had partnered with the Syrian Kurdish fighters, their top allies in the war against Islamic State. The relationship has strained ties between Nato allies Washington and Ankara.
After an abrupt and widely criticised decision by US President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from that part of Syria, the Kurdish forces approached the Syrian government and Russia for protection. Syrian government troops and Russian military police subsequently moved into areas along the border.
Two ceasefire agreements, brokered by the US and Russia, paused Turkey’s operation to allow the Syrian Kurdish fighters withdraw 30km from the border.
A Kurdish news agency and a war monitor reported clashes yesterday between Kurdish fighters and Turkish-backed opposition gunmen in the northeastern province of Hassakeh.
Though the truce has mostly held, it has been marred by accusations of violations from both sides and occasional clashes. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to resume the offensive.
Meanwhile, the 150-member committee selected to write a new constitution for Syria agreed yesterday on a 45-member drafting body that will begin work tomorrow, a first step on what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hopes will be a road to peace.
UN special envoy Geir Pedersen, who is facilitating the meetings in Geneva, said the fact that representatives from the government, opposition and civil society ‘‘have been sitting together, respecting each other, talking to each other . . . was quite impressive’’. He also praised the co-chairs, Ahmad Kuzbari from the government and Hadi alBahra from the opposition, who will alternately chair future meetings.
Repeated UN efforts to host talks on ending the Syrian civil war have largely failed. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has all but won the war militarily with the help of Russia, leaving a last rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Idlib.
An agreement to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution was reached at a
Russian-hosted peace conference in January 2018. But it took nearly 20 months to agree on the list the United Nations was authorised to put together – representing experts, independents, tribal leaders and women – mainly because of objections from the Syrian government.
Agreement on a new constitution is seen as a key step towards implementing a 2012 road map for peace that includes a ceasefire and ends with UNsupervised elections.
Endorsed by the UN Security Council in 2015, the road map was approved by representatives of the UN, the Arab League, the European Union, Turkey and all five veto-wielding council members – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.