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In northeastern Syria, US forces patrolled Thursday, October 31, in an area near the Turkish border. But Americans are not alone in patrolling the region.
With our correspondent in Istanbul , Anne Andlauer
This new patrol is a first, as US forces withdrew from this area three weeks ago, which paved the way for Turkey's offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces.
As part of an agreement signed between Ankara and Moscow on October 22, Russian and Turkish troops are also due to start on Friday to patrol together in northeastern Syria.
Russia announced on Tuesday that Kurdish forces had completely withdrawn from a 30-kilometer stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border , as well as the Manbij and Tall Rifaat regions.
Turkey, which felt that the withdrawal was " incomplete ", intends to check the announcements of Moscow by conducting these joint patrols.
Russian-Turkish patrols
The latter patrols began this Friday in two areas in the west and east of the region where the Turkish army led the ground offensive earlier this month, and will advance 10 kilometers in Syrian territory.
Turkey is satisfied with its agreement with Moscow, but no one in Ankara has made it clear what would happen if Kurdish fighters found themselves on the way to a Russian-Turkish patrol.
Since the beginning of the offensive, Russia has been mediating with the Kurdish forces, but also with the Syrian regime, which has regained a foothold in these territories that it had left more than seven years ago.
On October 31, Ankara said it had handed over to Damascus, via Moscow, 18 people suspected of being soldiers of the Syrian regime. They had been captured by Turkish army auxiliaries south-east of Ras al-Ain, a city controlled by Ankara since its offensive.
A tacit agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus
Since the Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria, Bashar al-Assad's army has taken over the positions that had been under the control of the Kurds since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.
Wednesday, October 30, Damascus proposed to the Kurds, majority in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to join the ranks of the army. But the Kurds refuse any allegiance without " a political agreement that would recognize and preserve the specific status and structure " of their forces.
Behejet Chekho is a political leader near Ras al-Ain, not affiliated with the Democratic Union Party (PYD). His party was present in Geneva during negotiations under the aegis of the UN. It requires certain conditions to be met before considering any deal with Damascus.
" The civilian population and the unarmed people are always wary of political agreements. Without a doubt, if the Syrian regime sided with the Kurdish people and respected their rights and their nationalism, then an agreement would seem positive to me. While if the regime does not take into account the presence of over 4 million Kurds in its territory, it will be detrimental to the future of Syria in general. "
For Behejet Chekho, Syrians need political reconciliation and need to put in place a new constitution to establish a new democratic system. " But if nobody takes into account the national rights of the Kurds, the region will never be stabilized. "