Syrian troops deploy at border with Turkey

Syrian government forces have started deploying at areas close to the Turkish border in the country’s northeast.

Syrian regime troops on the way to the Turkish border. Picture: SANA via AFP

Syrian government forces have started deploying at areas close to the Turkish border in the country’s northeast as part of an agreement reached between Russia and Turkey.

The state news agency SANA said on Friday troops were deploying between the towns of Jawadiyeh and Malkiyeh, also known as Derik, while state-run TV said Syrian border guards would be positioned at six points near to the frontier.

The deployment is part of a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow last month along much of the northeastern border that seeks to clear the area of the Kurdish fighters who were key US allies in the fight against Islamic State.

Since the agreement was reached, Russia and Turkey began joint patrols along a ­narrower strip directly on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkey began a major military offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria last month, capturing dozens of towns and villages.

SANA reported that since Turkey began its invasion of northern Syria on October 9, 19,776 families had been displaced from the northern countryside of Hasakeh province. It added that services were being provided to the displaced in 48 housing shelters.

Also on Friday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad said there were possibilities a former British army officer who helped found the White Helmets volunteer civil defence organisation in Syria was killed by Turkey.

Turkish officials had said the death of James Le Mesurier in Istanbul this week was under investigation. Le Mesurier was the founder and chief executive of May Day Rescue, which founded and trained the White Helmets, also known as the Syria Civil Defence, a group of local humanitarian volunteers.

He was 48 and had moved to Turkey with his wife four years ago. Le Mesurier’s body was found near his home in the Beyoglu district by worshippers on their way to a mosque.

“Maybe the founder of the White Helmets was planning to write a book about his life. This is unacceptable,” Assad said in an interview with Russia’s state- owned Russia 24.

“These are possibilities, but they are big possibilities.”

He added that “there is a big possibility that Turkish intelligence carried out this act at the orders of foreign agencies. I repeat, these are possibilities.”

AP