TEHRAN (Iran News) – Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Saturday that Turkey would send captured ISIS terrorists back to their home countries, and he complained about European inaction on the matter.

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Joint patrols of Russia-Turkey started in northern Syria Friday to verify whether Kurdish forces have withdrawn from a key border zone in compliance with a deal reached between Ankara and Moscow. Iran News quotes AFP story.

It follows an agreement they signed in the Black Sea resort of Sochi last week which gave Kurdish forces 150 hours to withdraw from a band of territory along Syria’s border with Turkey, in a process that Russia said was now complete.

The patrols add to the complicated mix of forces operating along the frontier, including US troops who inspected an eastern section on Thursday for the first time since US President Donald Trump said last month his country was withdrawing.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Turkey has arrested three mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on suspicion of “membership in a terror group” and “disseminating terror propaganda.”

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Turkey says Kurdish militants are withdrawing from the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn according to an agreement brokered with the United States, days after the Turkish army launched a cross-border offensive into northeastern Syria.

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Redur Khalil said the plan for evacuation from the town of Ras al-Ain, Turkey-Syria border area, was set for Sunday if there were no delays, Al Jazeera reported.

A five-day ceasefire, reached in negotiations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US Vice President Mike Pence, was largely holding along Turkey’s border with Syria on Saturday, despite accusations of violations from Turkish-allied forces and Kurdish fighters.

According to the deal, Turkey agreed to give Kurdish forces 120 hours to pull back from the Turkey-Syria border to allow Ankara to form a “safe zone”. The agreement has not specified the area of its pullback.

Khalil said his forces would withdraw and move back 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border after the planned evacuation.

He said only after that would his forces pull back from a 120km (75-mile) area between the towns of Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad.

This is the first time the Kurdish force has publicly acknowledged it will withdraw from the border, saying it has coordinated with the Americans.

Previous agreements between the US and Turkey over a “safe zone” along the Syria-Turkey border floundered over the diverging definitions of the area.

Khalil said a partial evacuation happened earlier on Saturday from Ras al-Ain after much stalling and with US coordination.

One Turkish soldier was killed and another wounded after an attack by the YPG group in northeast Syria’s Tal Abyad, the defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The ministry said the attack with anti-tank and light weapons struck Turkish soldiers carrying out a reconnaissance and surveillance mission in Tal Abyad.

It said the attack was retaliated, and added that Turkey remained committed to the truce deal despite the violations.

Turkey launched its cross-border offensive on October 9, aiming to clear the region of YPG fighters.

The campaign, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, would also allow the repatriation of Syrian refugees, according to Turkish officials.

However, there are fears the offensive may result in mass displacement of people and the revival of ISIS.

On Saturday, Erdogan said Turkey would press on with its offensive and “crush the heads” of Kurdish fighters if the deal on the withdrawal was not fully implemented.

“If it works, it works. If not, we will continue to crush the heads of the terrorists the minute the 120 hours (of the ceasefire) are over,” Erdogan told supporters in the central Turkish province of Kayseri.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria has displaced over 300,000 people, a report says.

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Media sources speak of a great agreement between Kurds in northern Syria and the Damascus government. Following a long meeting, it was agreed that there would be a complete coordination between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus across all areas under the control of SDF. This could be the beginning of Syria’s control over the eastern Euphrates.

The Turkish army and its affiliated militia have occupied Tell Abiad, Solouk and Mabroukeh towns as well as the villages in the southwestern outskirts of Hasakah. Now, they are approaching Ain Issa on the north of Raqqa. Therefore, the next steps that should be taken by the Syrian army will likely be a deployment in the northern and western outskirts of Raqqa to stop the invading Turkish army.

In this regard, the Kurds have struck a deal with Russia to hand over Ain al Arab (Kobani) to Syria, Ismat Sheikh Hassan, one of the military commanders of SDF, has said.

The fact is that the arrival of the Syrian army and resistance forces in northern Syria has unbalanced all the calculations of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish forces had assumed that they could occupy some parts of Syria through their operations in the north and the northeast. Turkish troops had sought to establish an autonomous state in north and northeast Syria, so they launched Operation Peace Spring. But the intervention by the Syrian army and resistance forces to defend the territorial integrity and to protect their national sovereignty aborted Ankara’s last plans.

Earlier, Ankara had been warned that if tensions in northern Syria were to escalate, army and resistance groups in the country would extend their efforts to stabilize the eastern Euphrates. However, Turkish officials ignored those warnings.

It seems that the arrival of resistance forces and the change of Erdogan’s calculations can put an end to illegal operations of Turkish forces against Syria as an independent and sovereign state. It should be noted that because of successive achievements against the Takfiri terrorism, the resistance movement in Syria is at its best condition.

It is obvious that the current developments in the north and northeast Syria due to the arrival of resistance forces have entered a new phase. Undoubtedly, the Syrian resistance forces will overcome the Turkish army in any possible military conflicts, and will not allow Erdogan’s dreams come true.

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“The imperative now is to end the incursion into Syria & address all concerns through ADANA,” Zarif said in a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday night.

“Meanwhile, it is essential that the core principles of JUS IN BELLO are fully observed: distinction between civilians and combatant, & prohibition on inflicting unnecessary suffering,” he added in his tweet.

In another statement he said “Just as Iran understands the security concerns of Turkey, it not only believes that military action will not solve security concerns, but that it will bring widespread humanitarian and material damages. Iran opposes these actions.” Iran is in contact with both Syria and Turkey and stressed a “peaceful resolution that respects Syria’s territorial integrity.”

Turkey moved into northern Syria last Wednesday after US President Donald Trump pulled American troops out of the area.

According to media reports, casualties are increasing as Turkey presses on with its cross-border offensive on Kurdish-held areas of Syria.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, amid growing international criticism of the offensive.

Iranian authorities, including President Hassan Rouhani, had urged the Ankara government to avoid taking military action in Syrian territories.

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Syrian state media also said the army troops have entered the center of Manbij in northern Syria and have raised the national flag in the city.

A video released by SANA shows a number of people gathering in the city’s main square and waving Syrian flags on Tuesday morning.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that the Russian military police were continuing patrol missions along the line of communication between Turkish and Syrian government forces, MBS news reported.

“The Russian military police continue to patrol the northwestern border of Manbij along the line of communication between Syrian and Turkish forces. Cooperation has been organized with the Turkish side,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

SANA has reported that the Syrian army units entered Manbij hours after taking control of Tabqa and its military airport, as well as Ain Issa in Raqqa’s northern countryside and a large number of nearby villages and towns.

Syrian Kurds on Sunday struck a deal with the government in Damascus on the deployment of Syrian army forces near the northern border after US troops pulled out of the region ahead of a Turkish incursion.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said US warplanes had targeted a column of Syrian troops in the city of Raqqah in an apparent attempt to hinder their deployment to the north.

The US military also tried to hinder the dispatch of Syrian and Russian forces near Manbij, the London-based war monitoring group said.

Kurdish authorities said the deal “paves the way to liberate the rest of the Syrian cities occupied by the Turkish army such as Afrin” in northwest.

Ankara says the operation is meant to purge Kurdish YPG militants, the backbone of the US-backed SDF militant group, which Turkey views as terrorists linked to local militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Residents of the northern city of Qamishli on Sunday celebrated the announcement of the Syrian troop deployment.

On Sunday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s incursion will stretch from Kobani in the west to Hasakeh in the east, going some 30 km (19 miles) into Syrian territory.

The Observatory said earlier Sunday that Turkish troops and their militant allies had entered Suluk, some 10 km from Turkey’s border.

Turkish troops have so far seized control of 109 square km territory, including 17 villages around Tel Abyad and four villages around Ras al-Ain, Erdogan said.

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“Let Syria and Assad try protecting Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria and Assad to protect the land of our enemy?” Trump tweeted on Monday.

“Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte. I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!” he went on to say.

“After defeating 100% of the ISIS Caliphate, I largely moved our troops out of Syria. Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria….”

Trump further raised the question why his country should protect part of Syria when Assad is “our enemy”.

“….I would much rather focus on our Southern Border which abuts and is part of the United States of America. And by the way, numbers are way down and the WALL is being built!”

Trump’s comments come as has been battered with criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike since the White House announced eight days ago that US forces would leave northern Syria, in a move that many call a “betrayal” to the US-allied Kurds in that region.

Following Trump’s decision to withdraw the US forces from northern Syria, Turkish forces last week moved into the Syrian territory, attacking the Kurdish forces that fought alongside the US against Daesh.

As a result, the Kurds struck a deal to join the Syrian army –Assad’s forces – in attempting to push back the Turks.

In another tweet on Monday, Trump also released a statement to announce new sanctions against “current and former officials of the Government of Turkey and any persons contributing to Turkey’s destabilizing actions in northeast Syria.”

He said he will be soon issuing an “Executive Order” which authorizes the imposition of these sanctions.

He also vowed to increase steel tariffs back up to 50 percent, and immediately stop negotiations with respect to a $100 billion trade deal with Turkey.

The US treasury secretary later announced that it has slapped sanctions on Turkey’s defense, interior and energy ministers upon Trump’s request.

‘Turkish incursion displaces 160,000 civilians’

The UN secretary general said on Monday in a statement that the Turkish military offensive in Syria has displaced at least 160,000 civilians.

Antonio Guterres “is gravely concerned over the military developments in northeast Syria,” the statement said.

It said Guterres was urging “all parties to resolve their concerns through peaceful means,” adding that “civilians not taking part in hostilities must be protected at all times.”

He also expressed “serious concern” that the Turkish onslaught could lead to the “unintended release of individuals” associated with ISIS.

Some of the Kurdish forces guarding ISIS prisoners or their families have been pulled away to fight the Turks, raising fears that many ISIS terrorists might be able to escape.

Guterres also demanded “sustained, unimpeded and safe humanitarian access to civilians in need” to allow the United Nations and its humanitarian partners to carry out aid work.

The UNICEF said that nearly 70,000 children have been displaced since hostilities in northeast Syria escalated nearly a week ago.

French, Turkish presidents hold talks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron the aims of Turkey’s operation in northeast Syria in a phone call, the Turkish presidency said on Monday.

Erdogan said the operation would contribute to regional and global peace and stability, the presidency said.

The talks came after the European Union countries agreed on Monday to limit arms exports to Turkey over its offensive, prompting condemnation from Ankara, even as they stopped short of a bloc-wide embargo against the NATO ally.

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