ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Russian military vehicles on Wednesday rolled into Kobane, the symbolic Kurdish city on northern Syria's border with Turkey where the Islamic State (ISIS) was dealt its first defeat. Residents in the town greeted the new force with caution.
"Myself, I prefer a deal with [the] USA more than Russia. I do not know why I am not comfortable with Russia. I do not know what will happen," Muslim Nabo, a resident of Kobane, said by WhatsApp chat Thursday morning.
In 2015, the world united to battle Islamic State (ISIS) militants who had taken over Kobane. Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Region were deployed to fight on the frontlines alongside their Kurdish brethren in the People's Protection Units (YPG) of northern Syria. They were backed by the air power of the global coalition against ISIS.
Now, Kobane is hoping the world will rally to their side again.
People of the city "want safety and stability. They say we need international protection to maintain our rights," said Nabo. "People focus on international protection and [a] buffer zone."
Germany's Minister of Defence Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has proposed an internationally-controlled zone along the Turkey-northern Syria border. She is presenting it to her NATO counterparts at meetings today and Friday in Brussels. The idea has so far gained little traction as US President Donald Trump has pulled his troops out of northern Syria, washing his hands of the Kurdish-Turkish problem and the thousands of ISIS fighters held in prisons in the area, and Russia is happy to see Damascus start to regain control over the north of the country.
Russian military police arrived in Kobane on Wednesday as part of a deal struck between President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi on Tuesday.
The military police are tasked with ensuring public safety and maintaining law and order, according to Russia's Ministry of Defence. They will also conduct patrols and assist in the withdrawal of the Kurdish forces, as per the Sochi agreement.
Mazloum Kobani Abdi, commander of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), confirmed to Russia's Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu that Russian military police and Syrian regime troops have deployed to several locations in northern Syria and his forces "are providing them with all kind of help and assistance."
The Sochi agreement between Russia and Turkey picks up from where a deal between Turkey and the United States left off and was struck to end Turkey's Operation Peace Spring against the Kurdish forces.
The deal dictates the SDF pull back 30 kilometers from the border within six days. Joint Russian-Turkish patrols will control the border and a stretch 10 kilometers deep into northern Syria, with the exception of Qamishli.
The SDF was not a party to the negotiations and has made limited public comments about it. Abdi told the Russians that he has concerns about some aspects of the agreement "that need more discussion and talks in order to reach an understanding."
In Kobane, people want a guarantee they will be protected against the Syrian militias that are Turkey's fighting force on the ground. "Those mercenaries are even more dangerous than ISIL," said Nabo, using another name for ISIS.
Several reports have emerged of these militias brutally killing civilians and desecrating the bodies of killed Kurdish fighters.
Kobane's population fled once, when ISIS took control. About 70 percent of the city was destroyed in the battle and rebuilding their houses and businesses has been slow work with little international support. They don't want to have to abandon their homes again. "They did their best and worked hard to rebuild their houses. They do not want to leave but if there is genocide and ethnic cleansing they will leave," said Nabo.
