Free Republic

The Kurds in Syria say the Syrian government has agreed to send its army to the northern border to try to halt Turkey's offensive against them. Syrian state media earlier reported that government forces had been deployed to the north. It follows the US decision to pull all its remaining troops from the area... (Turkey said) It also plans to resettle more than three million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey within the zone. Many of them are not Kurds. Critics have warned this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population. (Just as Turkey did after it took...

Qamishli (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s Kurds on Sunday announced a groundbreaking deal with Damascus on a Syrian troop deployment near the border with Turkey, as Ankara pressed a deadly cross-border offensive that has sparked an international outcry. The announcement came as the United States ordered the withdrawal of almost its entire ground force in Syria. Defence Secretary Mark Esper said the move to withdraw 1,000 US troops came after Washington learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than had been expected. Turkey’s relentless assault, which has seen air strikes, shelling and a ground incursion manned mainly by Syrian proxy...