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Russia has stepped up its role in the conflict in Syria by deploying military police to the country’s north.
The Russian units are patrolling a contact line between Syrian and Turkish forces, according to a statement Tuesday by Russia’s Defense Ministry. The line runs along the northwestern borders of the Manbij district.
Units of the army entered on Monday evening Manbij city in Aleppo north-eastern countryside.
Earlier, the Syrian Arab Army entered a large number of villages and towns in the southern, southwestern and northern countryside of Raqqa, al-Tabqa city and its countryside and al-Tabqa military airport, SANA reporter said.
Syria’s army have begun advancing towards the Kurdish-controlled northern towns of Kobani and Manbij on Sunday, the Kurdish-led administration of northeast Syria said, after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)and Damascus negotiated a deal to prevent further Turkish advances in the area.
With Operation Peace Spring, Turkey aims to clear its border with Syria, to settle the Kurdish-majority area with up to three million, mostly Arab refugees in what opponents call demographic re-engineering.
Two Turkish soldiers were killed in action on Thursday and Friday amid Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria.
Two fallen soldiers, a specialized sergeant and an infantry private, died amid clashes with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) terrorist group, the National Defense Ministry announced Friday.
Turkey launched its long-mooted offensive in northeast Syria on Wednesday, defying an international outcry over the threat posed to US-backed Kurdish forces and the campaign against Islamic State.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation – code named Peace Spring – would “eliminate the terror threat towards our country” from Kurdish militants and Islamic State jihadis.