Damascus calls on Kurdish forces to join regime army, police

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s army and police call on Kurdish fighters and security forces in northeast Syria to join their ranks following a Turkish cross-border incursion, state media says.

The appeal comes after regime troops deployed along parts of Syria’s northeastern border in a deal with Kurdish authorities to help stave off the Turkish offensive, launched October 9.

It is the largest Syrian army deployment in the area since 2012.

A separate ceasefire agreement reached between Ankara and Damascus-backer Moscow last week provided for members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to withdraw from the border and solidified the presence of pro-government forces there.

“The general command of the armed forces is ready to welcome members of SDF units who are willing to join its ranks,” says a Syrian defense ministry statement carried by state news agency SANA. It says all Syrians, including the Kurdish minority, are confronting “one enemy.”

Syria’s interior ministry says it is willing to provide police services to residents of the northeast, calling on members of the Kurdish internal security services, known as Asayish, to join its ranks, SANA reports.

The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies attacked Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria in early October with the aim of creating a roughly 30-kilometer (20-mile) deep buffer zone along the frontier. Left in the lurch by a US troop withdrawal from the border area, Kurdish forces turned to the Syrian government for protection.

— AFP