WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2019) An international security contingent should patrol the safe zone in northeast Syria with air support from the United States available to them, US Senator Lindsey Graham said in a statement.
"It is important that the international community police this safe zone, not Assad, not Russia, not Turkey," Graham said on Wednesday. "This can be accomplished by America providing air power to an international force, but not committing troops on the ground to control the Safe Zone."
Russian officials have said an international control of the safe zone is unnecessary.
Graham said the United States' role in protecting oil fields in northeast Syria will deny the Syrian government and Iran the opportunity to use them for revenue.
Graham said increasing oil production there will help the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and some of the oil sales revenue could possibly be used to compensate the United States for its military assistance in Syria.
On October 9, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in northeast Syria to clear the area of Kurdish and Islamic State (banned in Russia) fighters. The United States and Turkey on October 17 reached an agreement on a 120-hour ceasefire in the area to allow for the withdrawal of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
As the five-day ceasefire ended, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached a deal late on Tuesday to pull the Kurdish fighters back and establish joint patrols in the safe zone in northeast Syria along the Turkish border.
