Russians Move Into Syrian Kurdish Region Abandoned by U.S. Forces

AKCAKALE, TURKEY - OCTOBER 13: Smoke rises over the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, as seen from the Turkish border town of Akcakale on October 13, 2019 in Akcakale, Turkey. The military action is part of a campaign to extend Turkish control of more of northern Syria, a large swath of which is currently held by Syrian Kurds, whom Turkey regards as a threat. U.S. President Donald Trump granted tacit American approval to this campaign, withdrawing his country's troops from several Syrian outposts near the Turkish border. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)

On the heels of U.S. troops withdrawing from northern Syria, the Russians moved in.

A statement from Moscow’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday said Russian military police are patrolling near the town of Manbij, Syria, “along the line of contact between the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey.”

The town was formerly controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, now abandoned to their fate on orders from President Trump.

“A video posted online by Russian journalists travelling with the soldiers showed what appeared to be an abandoned outpost where American troops had been stationed earlier. Syrian troops waved flags in the city streets,” reports the New York Times.

Video shows Russian mercenaries inside an abandoned US camp in Syria. The man in the video was identified by Times of London reporter Tom Parfitt as Russian war correspondent Oleg Blokhin, known to be following the Wagner Group in northeastern Syria.https://t.co/IGgQzS7vQQ
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) October 15, 2019

On Monday, the Syrian Kurds “announced that they had struck an agreement with the government of President Bashar al-Assad aimed at blunting a nearly week-long Turkish government offensive into Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria,” reports the Washington Post. Assad and his dictatorial regime are supported by Russia.

Trump’s decision to order a U.S. pullout “drew global condemnation and left Kurdish fighters feeling betrayed, and the situation has quickly turned into a blood bath,” says the Associated Press. “Experts on the region warned that the withdrawal of American troops would embolden Russia, Iran and the Islamic State.”

Many captured Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have escaped their prisons since the Turkish offensive began a week ago, although it’s difficult to estimate just how many.

Also unclear is how much autonomy the Kurds will retain, even with a tenuous alliance with the Syrian government and its Russian backers.

Turkey’s government wants to clear the 230-mile-long border region of Syrian Kurdish forces, whose leaders said “their administration would maintain control of local institutions,” the Post says.

The Turks consider the Syrian Kurdish fighters terrorists because of their links to Kurdish militants in Turkey. The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East with no country of their own, with an estimated 35 million Kurds living in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also wants to create a “safe zone” in the region held by the Kurds for millions of refugees from Syria’s 8-year-old civil war who fled to Turkey.

Intense fighting continued to rage just south of the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday, with Turkish artillery pounding towns still held by Kurdish fighters and where the two sides were in direct contact on the ground.

At least 68 Kurdish fighters have been killed since the fighting began, along with an unknown number of civilians on both sides of the border, mostly from artillery fire.

At least 160,000 people have been forced to flee the region; Kurdish authorities put the number at more than a quarter of a million.

Britain announced Tuesday that it has suspended weapons sales to Turkey, “a day after foreign ministers from all 28 European Union member states agreed unanimously to stop selling arms to Turkey — the first time the bloc has reached such a decision about a NATO ally,” the Times says.

Trump hopes to stop Turkey’s assault with economic weapons; he announced new sanctions against Ankara on Monday. Trump also plans to send Vice President Mike Pence to Turkey to try to negotiate an end to the fighting.