Turkey says US delegation begins work on Syria safe zone

ISTANBUL – Turkey says a U.S. delegation has arrived in the country to set up a co-ordinationcentre for a so-called “safe zone” in Syria, part of an agreement struck last week that appeared to avert a possible new Turkish incursion into Syria.

Turkey’s defence ministry tweeted Monday that six Americans arrived in the southeastern Sanliurfa province and said the centre would be activated soon.

Ankara seeks to push out U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militias from border areas inside Syria, considering them terrorists aligned with a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey. These Syrian Kurdish forces are allied with the U.S., and had fought the Islamic State group in the area.

Last week’s agreement to set up the joint operations centre did not specify if the region would be cleared of the Kurdish fighters.

aD???