Russian defense Ministry issued a statement claiming the Russian military police will now patrol “along the line of contact between the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey.” The statement said the Russian military was also “interacting” with Turkey’s government.
Syria’s army have taken control of the Tabqa military airfield, two hydroelectric power plants and several bridges across the Euphrates river, Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.
These latest developments come a day after the Kurds announced they made a deal with the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
On Monday, the Trump administration called on Turkey president Erdogan to immediately cease-fire in North Syria.
Trump also imposed bigly sanctions on the country stating the offensive “undermines the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, endangers civilians, and further threatens to undermine the peace, security, and stability in the region …”
The United Nations Security Council will meet behind closed doors to discuss Turkey’s invasion of Syria.
The UN will also urge Turkey to launch an investigation into executions in Syria and may hold them responsible for them, which amounts to war crimes.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office said that video footage showing the executions of three Kurd would make the assassins easy to identify.
“Turkey could be deemed responsible as a state for violations by their affiliated groups as long as Turkey exercises effective control of these groups or the operations in the course of which those violations occurred,” he told a news briefing, adding that UN war crimes investigators would follow up on all incidents.
“We urge Turkish authorities immediately to launch an impartial, transparent and independent investigation and to apprehend those responsible, some of whom should be easily identifiable from the video footage they themselves shared on social media,” Colville said.
So far, 275,000 people have been displaced by the week long invasion including more than 70,000 children.
According to Erdogan , no ISIS fighters will escape Syria. But he called western countries hypocrites for “failing to stem the influx of foreign terrorist fighters in 2014 and 2015.” He also accused the Kurds of intentionally setting ISIS members free to “to fuel chaos in the area”.
