As Russia-backed Syrian government moved troops into the area, fresh clashes between Kurdish and Turkish forces erupted in northern Syria. Following a pact struck between Ankara and Moscow this week, Turkish forces suspended a military campaign against the Kurds, whom Ankara regards as a terrorist threat, on Wednesday, giving Kurdish fighters 150 hours to leave a 20-mile-deep belt that Turkey calls a safe zone. Turkey and its local allies have been conducting a ground assault including artillery shelling on several border villages, forcing thousands of civilians to flee, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said.
Up to 1,300 Syrian government forces and at least 160 vehicles arrived on Thursday to the area around the town of Kobani, located on the Turkish border, according to the Rojava Information Center as per media sources.
Clashes between Kurdish and Turkish
