The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on September 02, 2019, 01:33:41 pm
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US-backed Syrian Kurds begin pullout near Turkish border as part of ‘safe zone’ deal
By: Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press  
BEIRUT — The main U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia has begun withdrawing its fighters from two towns near Turkey’s border, part of a deal for a so-called “safe zone†in northeastern Syria involving the U.S. and Turkey, the Kurdish-led regional administration in northern Syria said Tuesday.
Turkey has been pressing for a safe zone, running east of the Euphrates River toward the Iraqi border, to push U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militias away from its frontier. Turkey wants to control — in coordination with the U.S. — a 19-25 mile (30-40 kilometer) deep zone within civil war-ravaged Syria.
Turkey wants the region along its border to be clear of Syrian Kurdish forces and has threatened on numerous occasions to launch a new operation in Syria against Syrian Kurdish forces if such a zone is not established.
https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/08/27/us-backed-syrian-kurds-begin-pullout-near-turkish-border-as-part-of-safe-zone-deal/ (https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/08/27/us-backed-syrian-kurds-begin-pullout-near-turkish-border-as-part-of-safe-zone-deal/)