Syria

DAMASCUS, Nov 6 (NNN-SANA) – The Syrian army, on Tuesday, deployed in new areas, rich in oil fields, in the countryside of Hasakah province in northeastern Syria, the latest progress in the overall deployment of the Syrian army, in Kurdish-held areas near the border with Turkey.

The Syrian army entered the area between Qamishli city and the Rmelan area, that is rich in oil and gas, in Hasakah countryside.

Meanwhile, a military officer said, the army’s entry to the oil fields is the first, since losing the area in 2012.

6 Nov 2019; MEMO: The number of American troops in Syria remains “stable and unchanged” three weeks after the US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal announcement, a US official said on Monday.

“Trump’s decision to protect the oil fields in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ez-Zor has forced the Pentagon to send reinforcements to that area at a time where US soldiers were moving away from areas near the Syrian-Turkish border,” the official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

3 Nov 2019; MEMO: A car bomb killed a dozen people and injured 30 on Saturday in a market of a Syrian border town that Turkish-backed forces seized last month, prompting Ankara to blame the Kurdish YPG militia it had targeted in its incursion.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-Turkey fighters and civilians were among the dead and injured in Tel Abyad. Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency said 13 were killed after a “bomb-laden vehicle” exploded.

ANKARA, Nov 2 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish and Russian troops launched their first joint patrol in northeastern Syria, as reconnaissance of the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from the region, as part of a deal that halted a Turkish offensive in the area.

“First Turkish-Russian joint patrols with the ground and air units are underway, east of Ad Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria, as agreed between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi on Oct 22,” the Turkish Defence Ministry said in a statement.

1 Nov 2019; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has stated that his American counterpart Donald Trump is “the best US President,” calling him an “honest enemy”.

Speaking in an interview aired on Syrian state television, Al-Assad said that “He is not a good president because of his policies, but because he is the most transparent. Various American presidents have made political mistakes and crimes, and received a Nobel Prize for it.”

DAMASCUS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday warned that war would be the only option if political means fail to secure Turkey's troop pullout from northern Syria.

Speaking in an interview with the Syrian national TV, Assad said the recent Turkey-Russia deal on creating a safe zone in northern Syria had been conducive in pulling back Kurdish militia from the border region in coordination with the Syrian army.

AYLISHAR /Syria/, October 31. /TASS/: Russian military police stationed in Syria are departing from the Aylishar border crossing in northern Syria on a joint patrol with Turkish forces on Thursday.

"The route is difficult, because the emphasis was placed on preventing the military convoy <…> from entering the city of Kobani. That’s why we are to bypass the city travelling along country roads," military police officer Ivan Zhukov told reporters.

KOBANI /Syria/, October 27. /TASS/: A unit of the Russian military police has arrived in the Syrian town of Kobani to patrol the territory in cooperation with Turkey, Russian military police officer Mikhail Elsukov told reporters on Sunday.

"A military police unit has arrived here to implement the fifth point of the memorandum and coordinate joint patrolling with the Turkish military, and to ensure control of posts and maintain peace and calm on this territory," he informed.

27 Oct 2019; MEMO: Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday attacked US plans to maintain and boost the American military presence in eastern Syria as “international state banditry” motivated by a desire to protect oil smugglers and not by real security concerns, Reuters reports.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday Washington would send armoured vehicles and troops to the Syrian oil fields in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Islamic State militants.

WASHINGTON/QAMISHLI (Syria), Oct 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US said it would beef up its military presence to protect northeastern Syria oil fields as Kurdish forces abandoned several positions to comply with a deal allowing Damascus, Ankara and Moscow to carve up their now-defunct autonomous region.