For the first time ever the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Russian Military Police have deployed several units in three towns north of the city of Manbij, which is held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Syrian news outlet, Muraselon, reported on January 24.
The pro-government outlet released a video and two photos showing Syrian and Russian troops in the towns of Umm Julud, Dadat and Oushrie. The three towns are located along the frontline with the Turkish-occupied areas north of Manbij.
“We, Republican Guard forces, came to support the Manbij Military Council [MMC] in the town of Umm Julud, which is located on the frontline with the Euphrates Shield [ES] force,” a Syrian soldier says in the video released by Muraselon.
Click to see full-size image, source: muraselon.com
Last month, the SAA and the Russian Military Police deployed a large force in the town of Arima, southwest of Manbij, upon an official request from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that allegedly withdraw from the town. The YPG is considered the core of the SDF.
The deployment of Syrian and Russian troops north of Manbij indicates that the ongoing negotiation between Damascus and the SDF is witnessing some progress. YPG commander Sipan Hemo confirmed this in a new interview with Reuters.
“There are attempts to carry out negotiations … the Syrian government stance was positive,” the Kurdish commander told the news agency. “We believe they will start in the coming days.”
The results of the upcoming negotiations between the Damascus government and the SDF will likely shape the situation in northeastern Syria following the upcoming withdrawal of U.S. forces.
This is a very brave but essential move by Russia and Syria. It is unlikely that the SDF will seal their demise by significantly attacking the Russian and Syrian forces, although the usual skirmishes are possible/probable. I am delighted to see this development which ultimately will prevent the Turkish ‘safe zone’ being established as a defacto partition, but I am also hopeful that Erdoghan agreed during recent negotiations to this development, which would essentially lead to the beginning of the end of this vicious war on Syria.
in a noncrazy world this would surely happen..
maybe he just did not have a choice in the matter.
Hopefully SDF wont be stupid enough to attack Russian MP, because they’d get return fire from 30mm BTRs and CAS from SU-24/SU-34 in an instant. Unlikely to happen though. As for TFSA jihadis, they better not try anything stupid or the whole fleet of RUAF in Hmeimim will be having the largest turkey shoot of their careers.
Slow and sure grind by Russia and SAA to bring the Kurds into the Syrian fold. This Kurdish drama will possibly delay the Idlib sanitization for now, eventually leading to the complete restoration of Syrian territorial integrity.
Good news for Syria.wonderfull backstabbing show between Putin and Erdogan after back stabbing summit.
kick the dancing child burners out of Golan, and the oil given back to iyts owner
Get on with it and stop playing all sides, or you will be all left alone little ones.
There’s a lot of Turkish regular army troops and heavy equipment being amassed just the other side of the border from Al Hasakah, Erdogan’s got something planned for that region, I think Ceylanpinar in Turkey would make a good staging point for an invasion into Al Hasakah and Ar Raqqah. Hopefully the Russian will try and get some troops to that region as fast as they can, just in case.