Six Turkish armored vehicles crossed the border on Sunday, September 8, to reach as many American vehicles in Syria. This is the first joint patrol carried out by Ankara and Washington, a measure provided for by an agreement reached on August 7th.

According to an AFP photographer, Turkish and American vehicles, followed by an ambulance and a pick-up, sank a little into Syria before heading west. The patrol ended at midday, with Turkish troops returning to Turkey.

The Syrian government immediately disapproved of this initiative. "Syria condemns with the utmost firmness the joint patrols conducted by the United States and the Turkish regime," the official Sana news agency quoted a source from the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The agreement reached last month between Turkey and the United States provides for the establishment of a buffer zone between the Turkish border and the Syrian areas controlled by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish iron militia. launches Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), east of the Euphrates River.

Withdrawal of some YPG units

Ankara regards this militia as an extension in Syria of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an organization considered as terrorist by Turkey, but also by the European Union and the United States. US support for this militia has been a major sticking point between the two countries, allied within NATO.

"We are implementing the agreement and have no problem with that as long as it prevents the war," Riyadh al-Khamis told AFP at the head of the SDF military council in Tal Abyad. The YPG began to withdraw from the Turkish border at the end of August.

Fuzzy contours

Ankara and Washington have recently set up the joint operations center provided for in this agreement to coordinate the creation of the "security zone", the contours of which remain unclear.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched two cross-border operations against the YPG and has repeatedly threatened to launch a new one.

One of the objectives of the "security zone" for Ankara is to be able to return some of the more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey. A pressing project at a time when fighting in Idleb (northwestern Syria), home to about three million people, is feared a new influx of migrants.

With AFP