On September 17, the Russian Military Police and the Turkish military conducted a joint patrol in the northeastern Aleppo countryside, which is controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The patrol, that consisted of eight Russian and Turkish armored vehicles, set off from the town of Eshma and reached the town of Tell Shair, 4 km to the west of Kobane. The joint patrol was escorted by two Russian helicopters.
In the course of the patrol, a group of children stoned Russian and Turkish vehicles. However, the minor incident didn’t lead to any escalation.
According to the North Press Agency, this was the 27th patrol in northwestern Aleppo since the singing of the Russian-Turkish agreement on northeastern Syria in October of 2019.
The agreement put an end to a large-scale Turkish attacks on the northeastern region, allowing the Kurdish-led SDF to maintain presence in strategic areas like Kobane.
The new joint patrol in northeastern Aleppo shows that Russia is still committed to its agreement with Turkey, despite the latter’s continued attempts to manipulate a similar agreement on the northwestern region of Greater Idlib.
