Russia, Turkey plugging away at Syria's northeast, Idlib
Amid complications with Turkey, Russia claims it stays the course in Syria.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan clinched a deal Oct. 22 on northeastern Syria to halt the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) — which Ankara deems a terrorist organization — implying their withdrawal from some areas east of the Euphrates River and from the towns of Tel Rifat and Manbij west of the river.
On Oct. 29, Moscow informed Ankara that 34,000 Kurdish militants and more than 3,200 heavy weapons were removed from a 30-kilometer-deep (19-mile-deep) strip of land in Syria on the Turkish border.
