Syria Kurds say they will train with Russian forces

20 March 2017, 9:26 pm

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Russia’s military will train Kurdish forces in Syria, the militia’s spokesman says, in Moscow’s first agreement of its kind with the group that controls large parts of the country’s north.

The move by Russia, a longtime ally of President Bashar Assad’s regime, is likely to anger Turkey, which considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to be a “terrorist” group.

“An agreement was signed between our units and Russian forces operating in Syria that will train us in modern military tactics,” YPG spokesman Redur Xelil says.

“This is the first agreement of its kind, although we have had previous cooperation (with the Russians) in Aleppo city,” he says.

— AFP