Turkey will begin joint military patrols with Russia in northern Syria on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday, like reported by dw.com.
The patrols will initially begin within 7 kilometers south of the Turkish border to Syria.
The statement comes a day after the expiration of the 150-hour period agreement for Syrian border guards and Russian military police to remove Kurdish forces 30km from the Turkish border in northeast Syria.
Erdogan on Wednesday disputed the claim by Russian military police that the Kurdish YPG militia, which is allied with the US, had left the strip.
Turkey reserves the right to launch another operation against the YPG in the area, said Erdogan.
Turkey considers the militia, the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a terrorist group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a nearly four-decade war for Kurdish rights against the Turkish state.
In a statement released by the Turkish Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday, the Turkish-Russian patrols “will be initiated in the west and east of the borders of current Operation Peace Spring at a depth of 10 kilometers.”
The joint operations will include mine clearances and reconnaissance activities.
