Russia doubts about US withdrawal from N Syria

MOSCOW

Russia did not know yet if the U.S. troops withdrew from northern Syria or not, a Russian spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Moscow had doubts if the U.S. troops would withdraw, and no one informed Russia about their withdrawal from northern Syria, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov told reporters.

"We do not know which troops will withdraw from there, what their number is and if they have withdrawn or not," Peskov stressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not contact his Turkish or U.S. counterparts regarding developments in northern Syria, he added.

U.S. Presiden Donald Trump reiterated his administration's commitment to withdraw troops from Syria on Monday, following a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan a day earlier.

Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.

Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence to return home.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara