The United Kingdom hopes for a permanent ceasefire in northern Syria and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the area in the wake of the United States and Turkey agreeing that the latter will temporary suspend its military operation, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Dominic Raab said Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) The United Kingdom hopes for a permanent ceasefire in northern Syria and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the area in the wake of the United States and Turkey agreeing that the latter will temporary suspend its military operation, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Dominic Raab said Friday.The ceasefire was announced by US Vice President Mike Pence after hours of talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Pence said the sides had agreed that a 120-hour ceasefire would be put into force in northeast Syria to allow the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Under the deal, all military activities under Operation Peace Spring, aimed at clearing the Turkish-Syrian border area of Kurdish-led militia and the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia), have been put on pause and will be halted completely upon the completion of the YPG's withdrawal.
"I think we made it clear to our Turkish-NATO partners that the incursion is wrong, we condemned it within the EU. I am pleased to see that there's been an agreement for a temporary ceasefire, we want to see that be made permanent and for Turkey to withdraw," Raab said in an interview with the Sky news broadcaster.
The secretary stressed that Turkish military presence in northern Syria would worsen the humanitarian situation in the region, and that it would also take away "the shared endeavor that we all have as NATO partners of countering the terrorist threat from Daesh [Islamic State]."
Operation Peace Spring began on October 9 and was immediately met with criticism from the United States, the European Union and many Arab countries, among others. Damascus has deemed it a violation of Syria's territorial integrity, while Russia, which supports Syria in its fight against terrorism, has emphasized that any escalation of the Syrian conflict should be avoided.
