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Kurds evacuate Syrian town in 1st pullout of cease-fire

AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) - Dozens of vehicles rolled out of a besieged Syrian border town, evacuating Kurdish fighters and civilians and opening the way for Turkish-backed forces to take over in the first pullback under a three-day-old U.S.-brokered cease-fire.

Kurdish officials say the evacuation of the town of Ras al-Ayn will be followed by a withdrawal of their forces from a broader section of the border with Turkey, a central requirement of the cease-fire deal.

The withdrawal is supposed to take place before Tuesday evening, when the pause in fighting is set to end.

Still, questions remain over longer-term arrangements. Turkey says it wants a "safe zone" clear of the Kurdish fighters - whom it considers terrorists - across the entire northeast border. That is far longer than the territory the Kurds will leave under the terms of the deal.

The Trump administration negotiated the accord after heavy criticism at home and abroad that it had opened the way for the Turkish invasion by abruptly removing its soldiers from northeast Syria. That move abandoned the Kurdish-led force, which was allied with the Americans in the bloody, years-long campaign that brought down the Islamic State group's rule over nearly a third of Syria.

For the moment, the pull-back focused on Ras al-Ayn, a town that has been a major battle zone since Turkey launched its invasion Oct. 9.

The cease-fire deal only calls for fighters to leave. But Kurdish civilians fled in the convoy as well, fearing atrocities by the Turkish-backed Syrian forces. Those fighters, who are Arab and often Islamist extremists, have been accused of killings of Kurdish civilians and captured fighters during this campaign and in other Syrian territory seized in Turkish campaigns since 2017.

That flight of civilians is likely to be repeated in other areas the fighters withdraw from, though most have already fled their homes amid the past days of fighting.

Turkish TV showed a line of vehicles driving through agricultural areas out of town Sunday. The Turkish military said at least 86 vehicles were involved. The convoys passed through corridors opened by Turkish-backed forces and headed to the town of Tal Tamr further south.

Just before nightfall, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led forces, Kino Gabriel, wrote in a tweet that the evacuation was complete. "We don't have any more fighters in the city," he wrote.

The Kurds had been holed up for days in a small pocket on the southern edge of the city, surrounded by the Turkish-backed fighters and engaged in clashes well after the start of the cease-fire. The SDF said 16 of its fighters had been killed and three wounded the past 24 hours.

Both sides accuse each other of repeatedly violating the three-day old cease-fire. Turkey's Defense Ministry said one of its soldiers was killed Sunday in a Kurdish attack with anti-tank weapons and small arms fire near the border town of Tal Abyad.

That brought the Turkish military's death toll to seven soldiers since it launched its offensive on Oct. 9.

A senior official in the Kurdish-led forces, Redur Khalil, said that after the Ras al-Ayn evacuation, the forces will withdraw from a zone about 120 kilometers (75 miles) wide and 30-kilometers (20 miles) deep between Ras al-Ayn and the town of Tal Abyad further west.

That area has been the main theater of fighting during the offensive, causing the flight of tens of thousands of civilians - Arab and Kurd - from the villages that dot the landscape. At least 160,000 civilians have been displaced by the Turkish assault.

Significant issues remain over the arrangements at the border.

A previous agreement between the U.S. and Turkey over a "safe zone" along the Syria-Turkish border foundered over the diverging definitions of the area.

Erdogan has said the Kurdish fighters must withdraw from the entire northeastern border from the Euphrates River to the Iraqi border, more than 440 kilometers (260 miles).

U.S. officials say the agreement pertains to the 120-kilometer section. Erdogan's spokesman, Kalin, confirmed that is the area affected by the pause in fighting, but said Turkey still wants the larger zone. Turkey says it also wants to settle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees on its soil in the safe zone.

Another question is what the arrangement will be along the rest of the northeastern border, most of which remains solely in the hands of Kurdish-led fighters.

When they were abandoned by U.S. troops, the Kurds turned to Russia and secured an agreement for Syrian government forces to deploy in the northeast last week.

So far, the Syrian forces have only moved into one location directly on the border, the town of Kobani, and a few positions further south.

Erdogan is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian town of Sochi on Tuesday. His spokesman Kalin said he will tell Putin that Ankara does not want either Syrian forces or Kurdish fighters along the border because refugees would not go back to areas under their control.

"We want to create conditions that will be suitable for them to return where they will feel safe."

___

Mroue reported from Beirut. Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed.

TV journalists work on a hilltop in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, as in the background smoke billows from a fire in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Turkey's defense ministry says one soldier has been killed amid sporadic clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. The ministry also said it allowed a 39-vehicle humanitarian convoy to enter Ras al-Ayn, a key border town that's seen some of the heaviest fighting. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) The Associated Press
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a military style salute toward his supporters during a rally in Kayseri, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Turkish Red Crescent says it has delivered humanitarian aid for 2000 people in Syrian town of Ras Al-Ayn and says it also provided aid to Tal Abyad and will continue to do so in areas cleared from Syrian Kurdish fighters.(Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool ) The Associated Press
Turkish soldiers carry the Turkish flag-draped coffin of soldier Sefa Findik, killed in action in Syria earlier in the day, during a ceremony at the airport in Sanliurfa, southeastern Turkey, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. This death brings Turkey's military death toll to seven soldiers in its wide-ranging offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) The Associated Press
Soufida Gedou, 65, a Syrian refugee living in Akcakale, southeastern Turkey, waits for bread distribution by the local municipality, holds various identification documents, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Gedou, a mother of 5 had recently lost her husband and she relies on municipality handouts. There are roughly 3.6 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said one of the aims of the current Turkish operation in northern Syria is to create a "safe zone" to which many of these refugees can be returned. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel) The Associated Press
American soldier mount the U.S. flag on a vehicle near the town of Tel Tamr, north Syria, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Kurdish-led fighters and Turkish-backed forces clashed sporadically Sunday in northeastern Syria amid efforts to work out a Kurdish evacuation from a besieged border town, the first pull-back under the terms of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad) The Associated Press
TV cameras are seen on a hilltop in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, as in the background smoke billows from fires in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Turkey's defense ministry says one soldier has been killed amid sporadic clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. The ministry also said it allowed a 39-vehicle humanitarian convoy to enter Ras al-Ayn, a key border town that's seen some of the heaviest fighting. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) The Associated Press
In this image provided by Turkish Red Crescent, Turkish Red Crescent vehicles arrive to deliver aid to Syrians in Ras Al-Ayn, Syria, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Turkish Red Crescent says it has delivered humanitarian aid for 2000 people in Ras Al-Ayn, including flour with other food and hygiene materials to follow. The organisation said it also provided aid to Tal Abyad and will continue to do so in areas cleared by the Turkish and the Turkish-backed forces, from fighters from Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG. (Fatih Isci/Turkish Red Crescent via AP) The Associated Press
In this image provided by Turkish Red Crescent, Syrians wait for aid being distributed by Turkish Red Crescent in Ras Al-Ayn, Syria, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Turkish Red Crescent says it has delivered humanitarian aid for 2000 people in Ras Al-Ayn, including flour with other food and hygiene materials to follow. The organisation said it also provided aid to Tal Abyad and will continue to do so in areas cleared by the Turkish and the Turkish-backed forces, from fighters from Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG. (Fatih Isci/Turkish Red Crescent via AP) The Associated Press
In this image provided by Turkish Red Crescent, a woman carries aid being distributed by Turkish Red Crescent in Ras Al-Ayn, Syria, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Turkish Red Crescent says it has delivered humanitarian aid for 2000 people in Ras Al-Ayn, including flour with other food and hygiene materials to follow. The organisation said it also provided aid to Tal Abyad and will continue to do so in areas cleared by the Turkish and the Turkish-backed forces, from fighters from Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG. (Fatih Isci/Turkish Red Crescent via AP) The Associated Press
In this Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 photo, Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters ride atop their armored personnel carrier to cross the border into Syria, in Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Syrian government forces to move out of areas near the Turkish border so it can resettle up to 2 million refugees there, his spokesman told The Associated Press on Saturday, adding that Erdogan will raise the issue in talks next week with Syria's ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel) The Associated Press
Ibrahim Kalin, chief advisor to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaks during an interview in Istanbul, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Erdogan wants Syrian government forces to move out of areas near the Turkish border so it can resettle up to 2 million refugees there, Kalin said, adding that Erdogan will raise the issue in talks next week with Syria's ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Government troops have moved in to several locations in northeastern Syria this week, invited by Kurdish-led fighters to protect them from Turkey's invasion. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) The Associated Press
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a military salute toward his supporters during a rally in Kayseri, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Turkish Red Crescent says it has delivered humanitarian aid for 2000 people in Syrian town of Ras Al-Ayn and says it also provided aid to Tal Abyad and will continue to do so in areas cleared from Syrian Kurdish fighters.(Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool ) The Associated Press
In this photo taken from the Turkish side of the border between Turkey and Syria, in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, a view of Ras al-Ayn, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Turkey's defense ministry says one soldier has been killed amid sporadic clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. The ministry also said it allowed a 39-vehicle humanitarian convoy to enter Ras al-Ayn, a key border town that's seen some of the heaviest fighting. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) The Associated Press
TV journalists work on a hilltop in Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province, southeastern Turkey, as in the background smoke billows from a fire in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019. Turkey's defense ministry says one soldier has been killed amid sporadic clashes with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire. The ministry also said it allowed a 39-vehicle humanitarian convoy to enter Ras al-Ayn, a key border town that's seen some of the heaviest fighting. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) The Associated Press
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