Kurds say they’ll abide by cease-fire
CEYLANPINAR, Turkey — The commander of Kurdish-led forces in Syria on Thursday said they will abide by a cease-fire agreement announced in Turkey by Vice President Mike Pence. But his comments suggested a smaller “safe zone” than Ankara has demanded, underscoring the ambiguities in the American-Turkish deal.
Mazloum Abdi, speaking on Kurdish Ronahi TV, said the extent of the cease-fire stretches 60 miles along the middle of the border — between the towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn. That is the region where Turkey has largely made its gains in nine days of fighting.
“We hope that this ceasefire will be successful, and we will do our best to make it successful,” Mr. Abdi said Thursday, describing it as a “tentative agreement.”
Mr. Abdi also did not specify that his fighters would withdraw from any territory. Kurdish fighters have already been driven out of much — but not all — of the area he defined. But they are still entrenched in Ras alAyn, fiercely battling Turkish-backed Syrian fighters trying to take the town. Whether the Kurdish fighters pull out of Ras al-Ayn will likely be an early test of the accord.
Turkey demands that all Kurdish fighters pull out of a zone stretching the entire length of the border from the Euphrates River to Iraq, more than 250 miles. That covers most of the region were Syria’s Kurdish population is concentrated.
The Kurdish-led forces still hold the rest of that territory and have invited the Syrian government’s military, backed by Russia, to deploy there to protect them from Turkey. Syrian troops have rolled into several key points along the border.
A key question for the cease-fire going forward is whether Ankara will be satisfied that the Syrian government presence is enough to keep a lid on the Kurdishled forces.
Turkey launched its invasion nine days ago, after President Donald Trump pulled out American soldiers in northeast Syria who had been working alongside the Kurds. Abandoned by their U.S. allies — with whom they had fought to bring down the Islamic State terrorist group — the Kurds turned to Russia and Damascus for help.
The cease-fire announced by Mr. Pence, sent by Mr. Trump to Ankara, appeared to be a significant embrace of Turkey’s position in the weeklong conflict. It calls for a five-day cease-fire in the Turks’ attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria to allow the Kurds to withdraw to roughly 20 miles away from the Turkish border.
Mr. Abdi, the Kurdish commander, made sure to praise Mr. Trump in his comments, saying “the president of the United States was directly involved and online.”
He suggested the Kurdishled force was involved in working out the cease-fire deal. “It has been three days that we have been working on this,” he said. “We were aware of all details. As result we reached this agreement.”
The deal raises hopes for at least a pause in the chaos that the Turkish assault has wreaked across northeast Syria.