The Turkish military and the Russian Military Police conducted on November 1 their first joint patrol in northeast Syria fulfilling a key term of the recent Turkish-Russian agreement.

“First Turkish-Russian joint patrols with ground and air units are underway east of Ad Darbasiyah in NE Syria as agreed between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi on 22 October,” the Turkish Ministry of National Defense wrote on Twitter.

Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were pushed 30km away from Turkey’s border with northeast Syria under the Russian Turkish agreement. SDF fighters were replaced with troops from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

 

 

The success of the first Turkish-Russian joint patrol in northeast Syria will likely solidify the agreement and help to build trust between all the sides involved. 🙂

The patrol took place east of Ad Darbasiyah – a Syrian town on the Syrian-Turkish border opposite the Turkish town of Senyurt. Administratively it is part of the Al-Hasakah Governorate. On 22 July 2012, during the Syrian Civil War, YPG forces took control over the town, after the security and political units withdrew from it, following an ultimatum issued by the Kurds.

The town has been under Kurdish control till Kurdish forces withdrew in later October 2019, as part of the Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone Agreement, leaving the town under the military control of the Syrian Army