US, Turkey Reach Deal on Safe Zone in Northern Syria

Deal is intended to prevent a Turkish invasion

The US and Turkey have reached a deal on Wednesday, according to both sides, which is intended to reduce the risk of Turkey invading northern Syria. The deal will establish an operations center for a “safe zone” in northern Syria.

The safe zone is intended to span 250 miles of northeastern border of Syria and Turkey, and will be carved more or less entirely out of Kurdish-held territory. The deal is meant to allow Syrian refugees to return through this “peace corridor.”

Deals on how wide the corridor will be is unclear, and it’s also not clear this is going to settle everything on the matter, though Turkish officials did say they believe the US is getting closer to their position.

US officials have promised to prevent a Turkish invasion of Syria. The Syrian Kurds have yet to comment broadly on the safe zone, and likely won’t until it’s clear how wide it would be.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.