The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday it had pulled out all its fighters from the border town of Ras al Ain, while Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey expects the US to keep its promises on a five-day truce.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday it had pulled out all its fighters from the border town of Ras al Ain, while Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey expects the US to keep its promises on a five-day truce.
The SDF's retreat is part of a US-brokered deal to withdraw from a "safe zone" that Turkey aims to establish near its border.
"We don't have any more fighters in the city," Kino Gabriel the SDF spokesman said in a statement.
Earlier, Turkey-backed rebels who had taken control of most of the town last week had said the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were still entrenched in nearly 30% of the town.
Meanwhile, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey expects the United States to keep its promises and not use stalling tactics in a deal between the NATO allies for Ankara to pause its offensive into northeastern Syria while the Kurdish fighters it is targeting withdraw.
Ankara and Washington agreed on Thursday to a five-day truce in northeastern Syria to allow the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to withdraw from a "safe zone" that Turkey aims to establish.
Erdogan has said the offensive will resume if the withdrawal is not completed within five days.
Speaking at an event in Istanbul, Erdogan said he had told the European Union countries and the U.S. delegation with which he struck the deal that Turkey would resume the operation if the deal faltered.