Damascus: Syrian and Turkish troops clashed on Thursday near Ras al Ain as Turkish soldiers took over the border town.
This happened after Kurdish fighters belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday fully withdrew from the besieged Syrian border town in the first pullback under a ceasefire deal with Turkey brokered by the United States, Al Jazeera reported.
Earlier, the United States negotiated the five-day ceasefire with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wherein, Ankara agreed to give Kurdish forces 120 hours to withdraw from a so-called “safe zone” that Erdogan wants to establish along Syria’s border with Turkey. The agreement, however, did not specify the area of the pullback.
Ankara considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which forms the backbone of the SDF, a “terrorist” group linked to Kurdish separatists inside Turkey.
The SDF was the US’s main ground ally in the years-long campaign against the Islamic State.