Russia and Turkey have reached an agreement to share control of Syria’s northern border – superseding the deal between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence that was reached last Thursday. The deal came just before the U.S.-Turkish halt in hostilities reached its deadline. A senior Trump administration official touting it as “one of the best ceasefires I’ve ever seen.”
The deal between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for Syrian Kurdish forces and their weapons to be removed from a buffer zone the length of the border in northeastern Syria. Turkey would maintain control of the portion it now has, thanks to its agreement with the U.S., while Assad’s forces, backed by Russia, would secure the rest of it.
