Russian forces in Syria conducted their first patrols near the Turkish border Wednesday to ensure Kurdish fighters withdraw under a deal between Moscow and Ankara ousting them from the minority's entire heartland.
US President Donald Trump hailed the agreement as a "big success" and announced his administration was lifting sanctions it had imposed on Turkey after it launched its offensive against Kurdish armed groups earlier this month.
Kurdish forces, who previously controlled nearly a third of Syria, have lost almost everything under the deal, which sees Turkey remain fully deployed in an Arab-majority area that was the main target of its two-week offensive.
The agreement Tuesday in Sochi also requires Kurdish forces to pull back to a line 30 kilometres from the border along its entire length (440 kilometres), forcing them to surrender some of their main towns and crushing their dreams of autonomy.
Trump has been accused of betraying key allies in the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group.
The deal - hailed as "historic" by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - quashes the Kurdish minority's dreams of a semi-autonomous region and makes way for the absorption of their de facto army into the regime's military.
Erdogan vowed that Turkey would take "the necessary steps" if promises to push Kurdish fighters away from the border were broken.
Russia's defence ministry said Wednesday its military police had conducted their first patrol in northern Syria, without providing more details. Under the deal, Russian military police and Syrian border guards are to "facilitate the removal" of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the Turkish-Syrian border, within 150 hours.
Russia and Turkey will then start joint patrols in two zones stretching 10 kilometres (six miles) to the east and west of Turkey's safe zone, which is about 120 kilometres long (75 miles). That will allow Turkey to patrol with Russia in areas of Syria that were not part of its offensive.
An AFP correspondent near the border town of Kobane saw several Russian-flagged military vehicles entering the area on Wednesday.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019
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