Turkey says ‘no need’ to restart Syria offensive after deadline expires

Turkey says ‘no need’ to restart Syria offensive after deadline expires
October 23, 2019, 7:37 am

Erdogan meeting with Putin in Sochi on Tuesday had yielded what the Russian president called momentous results for Syria. (File photo Reuters)

Turkey said on Wednesday there was “no need” to restart its offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria, saying that it had been informed by the US that their withdrawal from the border areas had been “completed”.

“At this stage, there is no need to carry out a new operation,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

A US-brokered deal had set a 120-hour deadline for Kurdish fighters’ pullout from a proposed safe zone, which expired at 1900 GMT.

The commander of Kurdish led-SDF fighters has informed the United States that it has carried out all of its obligations under a US-brokered truce to withdraw forces from a border area with Turkey in northeastern Syria, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that talks with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan had yielded what he called momentous results for Syria.

SOURCE : AFP

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