Iranian, Turkish FMs Discuss Situation of Northern Syria

In the Thursday call, the two sides conferred on the latest regional developments, especially the situation in northern Syria.

The phone conversation was the latest part of FM Zarif’s consultations with the officials of regional countries.

Earlier on Wednesday, Zarif held separate telephone conversations with the Foreign Ministers of Iraq, Russia and Syria on the latest developments in the region, particularly over the situation in northern Syria.

On Thursday, Washington and Ankara agreed on a five-day ceasefire in Turkey’s attacks on Kurdish fighters in the region.

The agreement followed negotiations between US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara.

Pence said Ankara would pause its offensive, dubbed Operation Peace Spring, for 120 hours in order to allow YPG militants to withdraw 30 kilometers from the Turkey-Syria border.

However, despite Ankara’s announcement of the five-day ceasefire, more than a dozen civilians lost their lives in northeastern Syrian on Friday when Turkish fighter jets launched an airstrike

Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network said at least 13 people were killed and 70 others injured when Turkish warplanes bombarded a civilian convoy traveling from Tal Tamr to Ras al-Ayn.

On October 9, Turkish military forces and Ankara-backed militants launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion of northeast Syria in a declared attempt to push YPG fighters away from border areas.

Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984. The YPG constitutes the backbone of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).