Russia and Turkey signed a memorandum to help stabilise the situation in northeast Syria last week, committing the Syrian Kurdish self-defence forces to withdrawing to a distance of 30 kilometres from the Syria-Turkish border, with Syrian Army forces and Russian military police units deploying to keep the peace in the area.
Syrian Army forces have moved from Qamishli, the capital of the de-facto Kurdish autonomous territory known as Rojava, into the surrounding countryside, receiving a warm welcome from local residents, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) has reported, accompanying its report with footage of troops waving Syrian national flags, chanting and gesturing the victory sign.
According to SANA's correspondent, the forces entered the village of Umm al-Keif in Hasaka province. The Army was said to have expanded its deployments across the northeastern Syrian region to protect local residents from possible attacks. The correspondent also confirmed that Russian military police had been deployed to the city of Qamishli proper, and that they were engaged in peacekeeping patrols there.
Earlier, SANA published footage of Russian units demonstratively moving through the centre of the northeastern Syrian city.
Qamishli is the largest city in Syria's Hasaka province, and came under the control of local Kurdish forces in 2012, as a result of the escalation of the foreign-backed civil conflict in Syria.
Last week, media…
