ANKARA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish and Russian troops on Friday launched their first joint patrol in northeastern Syria as reconnaissance of the withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish fighters from the region as part of a deal that halted a Turkish offensive in the area.
"First Turkish-Russian joint patrols with the ground and air units are underway east of Ad Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria as agreed between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi on Oct. 22," the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The patrols are part of a memorandum between Ankara and Moscow to remove fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) 30 km from the Turkish border.
Ankara sees the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
On Oct. 9, Turkey launched a military incursion, codenamed Operation Peace Spring, into northern Syria, in a bid to drive Kurdish fighters out of the border region, following the pullout of U.S. troops.
The U.S. reached a deal with Turkey on Oct. 17, imposing a five-day cease-fire to allow the Kurdish forces to pull back from the planned "safe zone" that Turkey wants to create in northern Syria to ensure its border security.
On Oct. 22, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a meeting in Sochi, Russia, agreeing on the pullout of the YPG fighters to 30 km south of Turkey's border within 150 hours and the launch of joint patrols between Turkish and Russian soldiers 10 km from the Turkish border in an agreed region that excludes the city of Qamishli.
