Turkish-Russian patrols near Qamishli and Trump see the ceasefire with the Kurds as cohesive

US President Donald Trump has said the ceasefire is holding up very well in northeastern Syria, to which Turkey has sent troops to confront Syrian Kurdish armed factions.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was "very good."

Asked whether Erdogan would visit the United States on November 13, Trump said: "We have good relations with President Erdogan, and the agreement we recently signed on Syria is very well implemented."

He stressed his desire for the return of US troops in Syria to their homes.

On Friday, the first joint Turkish-Russian patrols were launched from the border area with Syria near the city of Qamishli in the province of Hasaka, in accordance with the agreement "Sochi" signed between Ankara and Moscow.

Quiet discussion
A Turkish-flagged motorcade from the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin entered the Syrian side of the border and met with a Russian convoy in Derbasiyah district of Ras al-Ain countryside in al-Hasakah province, where they conducted a four-hour joint patrol.

The Russian Defense Ministry said units of its forces will conduct a second joint patrol with Turkish forces in the Qamishli region after two weeks.

This comes in accordance with an agreement concluded by President Erdogan with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in "Sochi" on 22 October last, to extend the vital area of ​​patrols to a depth of 10 km, from west of the city of Tel Abyad to the city of Arab (Kobani), and The city of Ras al-Ain east to the city of Qamishli excluded from the Sochi Agreement.

On the other hand, the Turkish Chief of Staff discussed with his Russian counterpart the completion of the implementation of the agreement between the two countries, specifically the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from the border strip to a depth of 30 km.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that his country and Turkey had created the conditions to discuss the Kurdish problem calmly, and that no one wants to explode the region because of this problem, he said.

Commenting on the situation in northern Syria, Lavrov said that the Kurdish problem is inevitable and widespread, as it touches not only the situation in Syria, but also the situation in Iraq, Iran and Turkey.