ANTAKYA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2019) The Free Syrian Army has abandoned 11 Syrian villages, situated along the M4 highway, ceding control to the Russian military police following Turkey's request, a source close to the FSA told Sputnik on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Syrian armed forces demanded from FSA armed groups to leave 11 settlements in Ayn Issa area of Tal Abyad district and to hand them over to the Russian military police.
"The FSA groups have departed from these 11 villages per the request of Turkey's armed forces and handed them over to the Russian military police," the source said.
The Turkish military had informed the FSA that those settlements were not part of the safe zone's border, the source explained.
On October 9, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in northeastern Syria to clear the area of Kurdish units and the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia). The United States and Turkey came to an agreement on October 17 for a 120-hour ceasefire in the area to allow the withdrawal of the Kurdish fighters.
As the five-day ceasefire came to an end, Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached a deal to pull the Kurdish fighters back and establish joint patrols in the operation zone along the Turkish border.
