The Russian-Turkish agreement signed Oct. 22 on the security and field situations south of the Turkish-Syrian border included an item stating that at noon on Oct. 23, Russian military police and Syrian border guards were to enter the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border, outside the area of ​​Operation Peace Spring, to facilitate the removal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their weapons to a depth of 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Syrian-Turkish border.

The process needed to be completed within 150 hours, after which joint Turkish and Russian patrols would begin operating west and east of the area of ​​Operation Peace Spring at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), with the exception of the city of Qamishli due to the presence of the Syrian regime’s security forces there.

The SDF withdrew from a number of neighborhoods in the cities of Ras al-Ain north of Hasakah and Tell Abyad north of Raqqa as part of the Russian-Turkish agreement to stop the Turkish military operation in northeastern Syria. Turkey announced Oct. 23 that there was “no need” to resume its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria after the truce ended, noting that the United States had informed it that the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from the border areas had been “completed.” The Turkish Defense Ministry released a statement saying, “At this stage, there is no need to carry out a new operation.”

The Russian military police patrolled the Syrian-Turkish border under the deal reached in Sochi — most recently on Oct. 31. The patrols have taken routes along the Syrian-Turkish border, namely Semalka-Qamishli and Qamishli-Kobani.