WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2019) The United States is implementing the security mechanism with Turkey in Syria's northeast and looks forward to continue working with Ankara, Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Col. Patrick Ryder said on Thursday.
'We continue to implement the security mechanism, progress continues to be made in the sense that at this point� we conducted seven combined aerial reconnaissance flights, two joint ground patrols with our Turkish allies and more are planned for the future," Ryder said. "We continue to see YPG fortifications being dismantled with the SDF, and so that again shows a good faith effort on the SDF's part to help implement this mechanism."
Ryder said that going forward, Washington continues "to look forward to working with our Turkish allies to not only take into account their legitimate security concerns but also to prevent the resurgence of ISIS (banned in Russia) and ensure enduring defeat of ISIS."
Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey would unilaterally create a safe zone in Syria's north if no progress is made on implementing its agreement with Washington.
Ryder declined to comment on Erdogan's statement.
"Right now we are focused on defeating ISIS and ensuring that they don't come back, and so we believe that dialogue and coordinated action with our Turkish allies is the key to success," he said.
On August 7, Turkey and the United States agreed to create a safe zone in northern Syria after months of tensions between the two countries over the presence of Kurdish militants, seen as terrorists by Ankara. However, the deal has not been fully implemented yet.
Later in August, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that his country could launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria to the east of the Euphrates River if the United States fails to meet Ankara's conditions for a safe zone.
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is closely following Ankara's statements about the possibility of launching an operation against Syria's Kurds, and it believes that while Turkey has the right to defend itself, Syria's sovereignty should be respected.
Earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States had seen "mounting evidence" that Turkey could send troops to northern Syria in the coming days in a move that could force an American withdrawal from the country.
