SYRIA
U.S. and Turkey to establish safe zone in northern Syria
August 19, 2019 - The United States and Turkey are planning to establish a safe area in northern Syria for refugees fleeing conflict in the war-torn country.
The NATO allies have also agreed to form a joint operations centre in Turkey to set up the safe zone.
Syria’s government has described the agreement as a serious escalation that violates its sovereignty.
The announcement of the deal may have averted – for now – a new Turkish incursion into northern Syria. Ankara seeks to push U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters out of the region as it considers them terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.