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Syria
Residents welcome Syrian soldiers shortly after their entry of the northern Syria town of Tal Tamr on Monday, Oct 14, 2019. Photo: SANA via AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – No deal has been struck to hand over Tel Tamr or the highly strategic M4 highway to Syrian government forces or the Russian military police, a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday, amid weeks of continued clashes at both sites.
“Some media outlets published on Saturday, November 16th, 2019 a report about what is called an agreement between Russia, Turkey and the Syrian Democratic Forces regarding ceasing fire in the city of Tal Tamer and the international road M4 and pass its control for Russian military police and the Syrian government forces,” SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel said in a statement on Sunday.
“We at the Syrian Democratic Forces deny this news.”
The SDF was most likely referring to a report published by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Saturday.
Citing "credible sources," the UK-based monitor claimed the SDF had reached an agreement to hand Tel Tamr over to Russian forces, "under their guaranteeing by which [Syrian] regime forces and Russian forces get deployed” in the town.
Per the agreement, Turkish-backed Syrian proxies would have to retreat to the “last extent” of the mixed border town of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) in northern Syria and from the M4 highway, to allow Syrian regime troop deployment in those areas.
Tel Tamr, a multi-ethnic, predominantly Christian town, has seen intense fighting for weeks. Fierce clashes in the town last week led to heavy Syrian regime troop casualties.
The town lies on the M4 highway, the main east-west artery crossing northern Syria. Turkey has set the highway as the border of its so-called safe zone, insisting the Kurdish forces withdraw south of the road. The SDF, reliant on the highway to allow the parts of northern and northeastern Syria it controls to remain connected, insists it lies outside of the proposed safe zone.
The SDF, especially through its Christian factions, have repeatedly stated the strategic importance of Tel Tamr for their movements between Kurdish-controlled areas.
"The Turkish state’s goal is to control Tel Tamr because it is a strategic area and all roads pass through there. Tel Tamr is a smaller version of Syria. There are Kurds, Christians and Arabs. It is also known as a Christian city but there are other [ethnic and religious] groups as well,” Mazloum Abdi, commander in chief of SDF, said during an exclusive interview with Rudaw earlier this month.
Fighting in the town was supposed to have ended after an October 17 US-Turkey ceasefire agreement and an October 22 Russia-Turkey deal saw Kurdish fighters withdraw from border areas to a depth of 30 kilometers. Though the agreements with Russia and the US have assigned Turkey its desired safe zone in the area, attacks have yet to cease.
Turkey started the land phase of its “Peace Spring” invasion into Kurdish-controlled Northern Syria on October 9, with the stated aim of clearing the border of the Kurdish-led SDF. Turkey considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of SDF, to be the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a Kurdish guerilla party fighting for greater Kurdish cultural and political rights in Turkey for decades. The SDF has maintained that it is not connected to the YPG.
“Some media outlets published on Saturday, November 16th, 2019 a report about what is called an agreement between Russia, Turkey and the Syrian Democratic Forces regarding ceasing fire in the city of Tal Tamer and the international road M4 and pass its control for Russian military police and the Syrian government forces,” SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel said in a statement on Sunday.
“We at the Syrian Democratic Forces deny this news.”
The SDF was most likely referring to a report published by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Saturday.
Citing "credible sources," the UK-based monitor claimed the SDF had reached an agreement to hand Tel Tamr over to Russian forces, "under their guaranteeing by which [Syrian] regime forces and Russian forces get deployed” in the town.
Per the agreement, Turkish-backed Syrian proxies would have to retreat to the “last extent” of the mixed border town of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) in northern Syria and from the M4 highway, to allow Syrian regime troop deployment in those areas.
Tel Tamr, a multi-ethnic, predominantly Christian town, has seen intense fighting for weeks. Fierce clashes in the town last week led to heavy Syrian regime troop casualties.
The town lies on the M4 highway, the main east-west artery crossing northern Syria. Turkey has set the highway as the border of its so-called safe zone, insisting the Kurdish forces withdraw south of the road. The SDF, reliant on the highway to allow the parts of northern and northeastern Syria it controls to remain connected, insists it lies outside of the proposed safe zone.
The SDF, especially through its Christian factions, have repeatedly stated the strategic importance of Tel Tamr for their movements between Kurdish-controlled areas.
"The Turkish state’s goal is to control Tel Tamr because it is a strategic area and all roads pass through there. Tel Tamr is a smaller version of Syria. There are Kurds, Christians and Arabs. It is also known as a Christian city but there are other [ethnic and religious] groups as well,” Mazloum Abdi, commander in chief of SDF, said during an exclusive interview with Rudaw earlier this month.
Fighting in the town was supposed to have ended after an October 17 US-Turkey ceasefire agreement and an October 22 Russia-Turkey deal saw Kurdish fighters withdraw from border areas to a depth of 30 kilometers. Though the agreements with Russia and the US have assigned Turkey its desired safe zone in the area, attacks have yet to cease.
Turkey started the land phase of its “Peace Spring” invasion into Kurdish-controlled Northern Syria on October 9, with the stated aim of clearing the border of the Kurdish-led SDF. Turkey considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of SDF, to be the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a Kurdish guerilla party fighting for greater Kurdish cultural and political rights in Turkey for decades. The SDF has maintained that it is not connected to the YPG.
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