The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have violated the ceasefire introduced in northern Syria on October 17 at least 36 times, and their withdrawal from the buffer zone on the Turkish-Syrian border continues, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Monday
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2019) The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have violated the ceasefire introduced in northern Syria on October 17 at least 36 times, and their withdrawal from the buffer zone on the Turkish-Syrian border continues, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Monday.The 120-hour ceasefire in the Turkish incursion into northeastern Syria was announced on Thursday after negotiations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a US delegation, led by Vice President Mike Pence, in Ankara. The temporary armistice agreement allows Syrian Kurdish militia to pull out of a 20-mile border area, which Turkey has designated as a "safe zone."
"In accordance with the US-Turkey agreement, we continue to closely monitor the withdrawal of YPG terrorists [from the safe zone] within 120 hours. A total of 125 vehicles have left the area by now. Despite the arrangements with the United States, the terrorists carried out 36 violations, starting from 10:00 p.m. [19:00 GMT] on October 17," the statement said.
Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria began earlier in October. The offensive is part of Ankara's goal to clear its Syria-facing border area of the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia) and Kurdish militia and create a safe zone where Turkey can relocate part of more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees it currently hosts.
The international community has been vocally critical about Ankara's operation, with a number of countries calling upon Erdogan to immediately stop the military action and withdraw troops from Syria. Moscow, in turn, has urged Ankara to refrain from actions that could create obstacles to settling the civil war in Syria.
