Moscow announced Monday the deployment of more military police personnel to Ain Issa, the strategic town in the countryside of Syria’s Raqqa province in the northeast, where fighters backed by Turkey have clashed with Kurdish forces near a highway patrolled by Russian and Turkish troops.
The move came on the eve of the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Sochi, where he is expected to hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the war in Syria.
A Turkish Defense Ministry source said Ankara would emphasize the withdrawal of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPC) from the area.
“Those units must definitely leave Ain Issa,” said the source, requesting anonymity.
The YPG are the Kurdish component of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which captured Ain Issa in mid-2015 after fierce clashes with ISIS.
The town is an important junction linking Aleppo and Hasakah, via the international M4 highway. Ain Issa is also crucial for its roads to Tal Abyad city on the Syria-Turkey border and Raqqa city.
Meanwhile, a member of the National Peace Committee in Syria Omar Rahmoun told Sputnik Monday that during a meeting in Ain Issa, the SDF forces pledged to hand over the city to Russia and the Syrian regime in the next few days.
He said this decision, which came following several days of consultations, has prevented an attack on the town by Turkish forces.
“SDF representatives informed Russia that they are ready to fully withdraw from Ain Issa and that such moves would start in the coming hours,” Rahmoun said.
