After leaving locals in northeastern Syria in the dark until two days before the end of a six-day day cease-fire, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) released a statement on Oct. 27 agreeing to the most controversial term of a Turkish-Russian agreement worked out in Sochi and signed Oct. 22: The SDF would withdraw 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Turkish border. Immediately after the announcement, the SDF began to redeploy from positions along the 273-mile Turkey-Syria border to make room for joint Russian-Turkish patrols 10 kilometers (6 miles), inside Syrian territory, while Damascus took control along the border.

The decision to withdraw came as a surprise. Only one day before, Fanar al-Gait, deputy co-chair of foreign relations for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), had told Al-Monitor, “The Turkish-Russian deal includes a number of conditions we refuse to fulfill, such as the withdrawal of our security forces 30 kilometers from the border.”

When initially faced with the threat of renewed Turkish aggression, the SDF had put the need to prevent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s further expansion into Syrian territory first, Nisren Abdullah, commander and spokesperson for the Kurdish Women's Protection Unit, told Al-Monitor. “It was a difficult decision, as we were not consulted when Russia struck the Sochi deal with Turkey,” she said. “However, we have to protect our people and chose diplomacy over war.”

Gait added, “Now that we have agreed on the military aspects of the deal, Russia is to facilitate a new round of negotiations between the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian regime. We expect them to start once the SDF’s withdrawal is complete.”