Russia: Assad takes control of Syrian city near Turkey

Russia said Syrian government forces are in control of a strategic area close to the border with Turkey that had been under the command of a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia before President Donald Trump announced his withdrawal from the country ten days ago.

“The Syrian army has taken control of Manbij,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Saturday on a conference call.

The Kremlin’s announcement came as the Russian and Turkish foreign and defense ministers, as well as the countries’ intelligence chiefs, met in Moscow to discuss coordination in Syria as they move to fill the void left by the U.S. military pullout.

“We reached an agreement on how Russian and Turkish military representatives on the ground will continue to coordinate their actions in these new conditions, with the goal of decisively defeating the terrorist threat in Syria,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after the talks. The two countries have a “common will to clear Syrian territories of all terrorist groups,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Turkish officials were seeking Russia’s approval to access Syrian airspace for strikes against Kurdish militants and Islamic State, Hurriyet newspaper reported Friday, without saying how it got the information. Russia has said the Syrian government should retake areas vacated by the U.S., but also joined Trump in endorsing a role for Turkey in continuing the fight against Islamic State.

On Friday, the U.S.-led coalition had denied what it called “incorrect” information about changes to the presence of military forces in Manbij, a key Syrian town about 25 miles from the Turkish border. The Turkish army was threatening an offensive to eliminate the presence of the Kurdish YPG from Manbij, saying it’s a terrorist organization linked to Kurdish separatists inside its own borders.

The meeting in the Russian capital comes at a delicate time for Moscow and Ankara, which have built strong ties even as they backed opposing sides in Syria’s eight-year long civil war. The U.S. withdrawal risked a crisis in the relationship, as Turks prepared to take over Manbij while their Kurdish adversaries sought help from Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, which is backed by Russia.

The U.S.-led forces fighting Islamic State in Syria partnered and armed the YPG, and Trump’s decision to exit Syria has left them vulnerable to Turkey. Ankara says the group is an extension of the Kurdish PKK that it’s been fighting for more than three decades, and which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the U.S.

As Turkey’s troops advanced toward Manbij, the YPG issued a statement on Friday inviting the Syrian government to assert control over areas vacated by Kurdish forces and to protect them from a “Turkish invasion.”

Russia and Turkey have been maneuvering to position themselves for a new order in a Syria without a U.S. military presence. Trump announced the withdrawal on Dec. 19 after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prompting the departure of his secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, in protest. Brett McGurk, the lead envoy for the U.S.led coalition against Islamic State, also resigned.

“Our main objective is for the terrorist organizations to leave,” Erdogan said Friday. If they do, “then there won’t be anything left for us to do,” he said.

Saturday’s high-level meeting might result in a phone call or another summit in Russia with Putin, Erdogan said.

NAZEER AL-KHATIB / GETTY IMAGES Turkish-backed Syrian fighters raise their weapons as they arrive in the rebel-held border town of Qirata after leaving for Manbij on Tuesday.