Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have abandoned their military base, with a training camp and Asayish police post in northern Syria's Raqqa province near the town of Ayn Issa, following their recent announcement of intentions to withdraw from the region, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Monday
AYN ISSA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2019) Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have abandoned their military base, with a training camp and Asayish police post in northern Syria's Raqqa province near the town of Ayn Issa, following their recent announcement of intentions to withdraw from the region, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Monday.
On Sunday, the SDF announced the complete withdrawal of troops from the border area in accordance with an agreement that Russia and Turkey reached on Tuesday, which stipulates their exit from the region within 150 hours.�
The deserted base is located near the M4 highway just west of the Ayn Issa refugee camp, which was also recently abandoned, following the launch of Turkey's Operation Peace Spring in north Syria.
Some of the buildings on the base show signs of structural damage from air strikes. Flags of the Kurdish People's Protection Units hang inside some of the barracks on the base.
Earlier on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry's Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Refugee Migration Monitoring said that Russian military police had started providing assistance to Kurdish forces in their withdrawal from the Turkey-Syria border.
The recently signed 10-point Russian-Turkish memorandum stipulates that units of Russian military police and Syrian border control be deployed to the 18-mile safe zone in north Syria to facilitate the withdrawal of Kurdish troops.�
The Turkish offensive, which was launched on October 9, aimed to clear the Turkish-Syrian border area of terrorists and Kurdish militia, which for Turkey are interchangeable terms, and create a so-called safe zone there for the further accommodation of Syrian refugees who are currently residing in Turkey.
