Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled Monday that Turkey aims to drive Kurdish-led fighters from the northern Syrian town of Manbij, after Syrian Kurdish officials struck a deal with the Syrian government to confront Ankara’s offensive.
Earlier Monday, Syrian government forces have deployed to Ain Issa in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory said Monday, to the frontlines of the territory where Turkish forces have mounted an invasion since last week.
Syrian state television showed broadcasts of what it said was the entrance of Ain Issa, where residents where seen welcoming the arrival of Syrian troops. Ain Issa also houses a Kurdish camp for prisoners affiliated with Daesh (IS), from where almost 800 Daesh-affiliates – mostly women and children – had escaped Sunday in the wake of the Turkish offensive.
Syrian army troops had also entered the town of Tall Tamr in northeastern Syria, state media reported Monday, after Damascus reached an agreement with the Kurdish-led forces controlling the region to deploy into the area to counter an attack by Turkey.
Tall Tamr is 35km southeast of the flashpoint border town of Ras al-Ain, which has been a key target of Turkish forces and their proxies since they launched their onslaught six days ago.
Tall Tamr is on a strategically important highway, the M4, that runs east to west. Turkish forces said they had seized the highway Sunday.
AFP correspondents said the government forces were met by cheering residents and Syrian state television aired footage of people welcoming the soldiers.
According to a newspaper close to the Damascus regime, Syrian forces were also expected to deploy in the areas of Manbij and the border town of Kobane, further east.
October 9, Turkey launched a broad cross-border offensive on areas that were controlled by Kurdish forces it considers to be a terrorist organisation.
The move came after a pullback of U.S. troops from the border area effectively gave Ankara a green light to launch its long-prepared operation.
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