Crowd pelts joint Turkish-Russian patrol in Syria with stones

Local media has released footage of angry crowds pelting a Turkish and Russian joint patrol in northern Syria near Kobane, under a deal that has forced Kurdish militias away from Turkey's border. 

Tuesday's patrol was launched 7km east of Kobane, a Syrian border town of special significance to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which fought off Islamic State (IS) fighters trying to seize it in 2014 to 2015 in one of the fiercest battles of the Syrian war.

Armoured vehicles crossed through a gap in the border wall to the Syrian side and headed east, a witness said. 

Security sources said the patrol would cover a distance of 72km at a depth of 5km from the border.

Near Kobane, crowds pelted passing Turkish and Russian armoured vehicles of the patrol with stones from a roadside and chanted slogans, footage from the local North Press Agency showed.

Several dozen people managed to stop two Russian armoured vehicles and some of them climbed onto one of the cars with Russian military police insignia, a video released by local news outlet Anha showed.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday there were no incidents during the patrol mission.

The Turkish Defence Ministry shared photos on Twitter showing Turkish and Russian soldiers meeting at the border and studying maps before the start of the patrol. It said drones were also taking part.

'Safe zone'

Nearly a month ago, Turkey and Syrian rebel allies launched a cross-border incursion against the YPG, seizing control of 120km of land along the frontier.

Tens of thousands of civilians fled the fighting between Turkish-backed forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces militia, of which the YPG forms the largest component, according to the UN. Scores of fighters on both sides, and civilians, were killed and clashes have continued.

Under a subsequent deal, Russia and Turkey agreed to push the YPG to a depth of at least 30km south of the border and to hold joint patrols to monitor the agreement.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that the YPG had not withdrawn from that planned "safe zone," despite Turkey's agreements with both Russia and the United States.

Ankara considers the YPG - which helped the US defeat IS in Syria - a terrorist group because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who have waged an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984.

Russia is the Syrian government's most powerful ally and since 2015 has helped it retake much of the country from rebels, turning the tide in the civil war. 

The Turkish-Russian deal enabled Syrian government forces to move back into border regions from which they had been absent for years.

'Refugee town or towns'

Russian military police arrived in Kobane on 23 October under the deal reached by Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The first patrol, on Friday, was held around the Syrian border town of Darbasiya, east of the region from where Turkish and their Syrian rebel allies forced out the YPG fighters.

Erdogan said last week that Turkey planned to establish a "refugee town or towns" in that region between Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ain, part of a project that state media have said would cost 151bn Turkish lira ($26bn).

Ankara launched its offensive against the YPG following US President Donald Trump's abrupt decision in early October to withdraw around 1,000 US troops from northern Syria.