From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 31, 2019
US conducts first Syria border patrol since pullback
US forces are patrolling part of Syria’s border with Turkey in the first such move since Washington withdrew troops from the area earlier this month, an AFP correspondent reports.
Five armored vehicles bearing US flags patrolled a strip of the frontier north of the town of Qahtaniyah, an area where regime forces were expected to deploy as part of a deal with Turkey, the correspondent said.
US. forces have returned to northen Syria: conducted a patrol on the Syria-Turkey border today pic.twitter.com/2bLFDNhTiP
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) October 31, 2019
The patrol was accompanied by Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main US ally in the years-long battle against the Islamic State group.
US forces used to patrol the section of border north of Qahtaniyah before Washington announced its pullback on October 6.
— AFP
The Times of Israel Community.