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"The self-proclaimed Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, having not received support from the United States and other Western countries, was unable to take any effective measures to protect the population and resolve humanitarian problems," Maj. Gen. Alexey Bakin, the head of the Russian centre for Syrian reconciliation said at a daily briefing.
"As a result, the self-governing authorities of the settlements in the Manbij district of Aleppo province, Tabka district of Raqqa province, Qamishli and Hasakah districts of Hasakah province announced the full restoration of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic on their territory," he added.
The general also said that in other settlements in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces, representatives of several tribal unions had held demonstrations against the foreign aggression and terrorism, and sent appeals to the Russian reconciliation centre to assist them in restoring the legitimate authority of Syria.
Blaming Turkey for "undermining the successful multinational 'Defeat ISIS' mission in Syria," US Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced a "deliberate withdrawal" of US forces from northeast Syria. "I will be visiting NATO next week in Brussels, where I plan to press our other NATO allies to take collective and individual diplomatic and economic measures in response to these egregious Turkish actions."Trump talked on the phone with Erdogan, urging a ceasefire, and Pence is planning to head to Turkey with NatSec Adviser O'Brien for negotiations. The UK has halted exports of arms to Turkey that "might be used in military operations". For his part, Erdogan plans on returning 3 million Syrian refugees to the region after Turkey 'secures' it. Russia has vowed to prevent clashes between the Syrian and Turkish armies. Russian troops are currently patrolling the areas the Syrian army entered in the last day or so.
"President Erdogan bears full responsibility" for "a potential ISIS resurgence, possible war crimes, and a growing humanitarian crisis," Esper warned, pinning the responsibility for "widespread casualties, refugees, destruction, insecurity, and a growing threat to US military forces" exclusively on Turkey.
"The handover of Kobani and Manbij is not the decision of the SDF, but rather it will be in accordance with consensus between the regional and international parties. The Russian Federation will have the crucial role in these arrangements", Bashar said.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu:
He called the developments "the complete surrender of the SDF" to the Syrian army as a way to protect itself from the Turkish incursion.
"The Kurds will not move voluntarily out of their historical presence unless they are forced", he added.
"Sanctions against Turkey will achieve nothing. It is necessary to observe promises given to Turkey. We began the operation in the north of Syria because the US failed to observe its commitments," Cavusoglu said at an international conference on media freedom in Azerbaijan.For previous updates, see:
Still, this is quite JFKish, regarding Trump's foreign policy! Even more so, that he is still around to implement them!