The Northern Syria Buffer Zone (also known as the Safe Zone, Peace Corridor, or Security Mechanism) was a temporary Syrian civil war demilitarized zone (DMZ) established on the Syrian side of the Syria–Turkey border in August 2019 to maintain security along the border and to dissuade a prospective Turkish invasion of the self-proclaimed Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The DMZ was administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their military councils and enforced by United States Armed Forces and Turkish Armed Forces personnel.
The buffer zone collapsed in early October 2019, before it was fully implemented, when Turkey dismissed the agreement on 1 October and the United States abandoned the effort on 6 October after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria, allowing for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's planned ground incursion into the region. The subsequent Turkish offensive on 9 October rendered the buffer zone fully obsolete.
The failed Turkish-U.S. arrangement was replaced on 22 October 2019 with the separate Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone, negotiated between Russia, Turkey and the Assad government.
Background
The Syrian Democratic Forces are an armed participant in the Syrian civil war and serve as the armed forces of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The SDF is composed of numerous groups, most prominent among them being the YPG and YPJ and their political branch, the PYD, which Turkey considers a branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an organization which Turkey considers a terrorist group and with which it has engaged in armed conflict since the breakdown of peace negotiations in 2015. For this reason, Turkey views the entire SDF as merely an extension of the PKK. This has led Turkey to intervene twice against the group by 2019, first by invading northern Syria to prevent the linking of SDF-held areas and later by launching a full-scale attack against the SDF in Afrin. As a result of these incursions, Turkey established an occupation zone in northern Syria, which became subject to an SDF insurgency. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan frequently expressed a desire to forcefully remove the SDF from the Syrian-Turkish border.
The SDF, for its part, became one of the United States' main Syrian partners in the war against the Islamic State, leading to US troops being stationed within SDF-held territories, thus dissuading a Turkish cross-border invasion. At the same time, US President Donald Trump expressed his intention to disengage from the Syrian civil war, initially ordering all US personnel in Syria to be withdrawn before later deciding to maintain a small contingent, at the behest of his military advisors. Nonetheless, the US was keen on maintaining good relations with Turkey, which had by that point already been strained by the refusal of the US to extradite Turkish dissident Fethullah Gülen (whom Turkey accused of masterminding the failed 2016 coup d'état) and the Turkish purchase of S-400 missile systems from Russia, as Turkey is considered NATO's key member in the Middle East.
The US and Turkey had previously clashed diplomatically over the issue of the SDF-held city of Manbij, with Turkey wanting to purge the city of the YPG units stationed there. The result was a 'Manbij Roadmap' being agreed to by Turkey and the US, which would eventually entail a YPG withdrawal from the city. The roadmap, however, was never implemented and the YPG never withdrew. Turkey accused the US of dragging its feet and sabotaging the implementation of the roadmap, vowing to never enter into a similar deal in the future.
Relations between Turkey and the SDF became increasingly hostile in mid-2019, with the SDF joining forces with Bashar al-Assad's government forces to repel a Turkish-opposition military operation near Tell Rifaat.
Negotiation process Preliminary negotiations and initial failure During summer of 2019, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey could "no longer wait" and would not tolerate continued SDF presence along the Turkish-Syrian border. He stated that if the US did not agree to a deal that would remove the SDF from those areas, Turkey would unilaterally launch a full-scale invasion against SDF-held territories east of the Euphrates river, establishing a Turkish-occupied "security zone" along the border – something that US leadership viewed as "unacceptable". With the Turkish army massing along the border, the Trump administration decided to enter into negotiations with Turkey over establishing a "safe zone", which would fundamentally address the SDF presence in Northern Syria. The two sides initially failed to make any headway, with the US initially offering a -deep zone under joint US-Turkish control, while Turkey demanded a -deep zone under sole Turkish control.
Deal reached
On 7 August 2019, Turkey said it reached a framework deal with the United States that would prevent a unilateral Turkish invasion of northern Syria. The initial first steps reportedly included the creation of a "joint operations centre", which would coordinate the establishment of a "peace corridor" along the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border, while still leaving details about the size and scope of the "peace corridor" undefined and ambiguous.
Terms of the agreement
In mid-August 2019, the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces revealed that the two sides had agreed on the specifics of the safe zone deal. They were listed as follows:
A buffer zone (also referred to as "safe zone" or "peace corridor" by some parties) would be established in the areas between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (notably excluding the Manbij area) in Northern Syria, totaling in about 115 km of the border between the two countries. The zone would be deep in most areas, while in a few limited areas would be expanded to deep. The expanded part of the zone would be located between the towns Serêkanî and Tell Abyad. The 14 km portion of the zone may be extended by in the last stage of the implementation of the deal, reaching at its deepest point and being designated as a "security belt". Within the "security belt", regular SDF (including YPG and YPJ) units would be allowed to remain in their positions, but would have to withdraw all heavy weapons. No hostile actions or acts of aggression would be permitted within the buffer zone. YPG and YPJ forces would withdraw from the 5-9-14 km area of the buffer zone entirely, leaving the areas they withdraw from under the military control of the SDF military councils and the civil control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (the latter of which represents a confirmation of the status quo). Turkish reconnaissance aircraft would be allowed to monitor the zone, but Turkish warplanes would not be allowed to enter and no airstrikes would take place. The SDF would dismantle the border fortifications it has constructed along the Syrian-Turkish border. The US and Turkey would conduct joint military patrols along the buffer zone, but would not occupy territory. Separate Turkish patrols would not be permitted. The joint US-Turkish operations center would oversee the implementation of the deal and coordinate actions between the two parties. Some of the Syrian refugees currently housed in Turkey would start to be relocated to the areas within the zone. Turkey would refrain from any incursions into Northern Syria. Turkey would not establish any observation posts in Northern Syria, as it had done in Idlib. All observation posts would have to be built on the territory of the Republic of Turkey.
The SDF later clarified that the majority of the zone would include rural areas and military positions, but not cities and towns.
Implementation timeline On 14 August 2019, Turkish observation drones began surveillance flights over the buffer zone.
On 22 August, the SDF began dismantling border fortifications along the Syrian-Turkish border under U.S. supervision.
On 24 August, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar reported that the U.S.-Turkish combined joint operations center (CJOC) was fully operational, adding that joint helicopter flights would begin that same day.
The first joint U.S.-Turkish helicopter flight took place, with two generals, one from the United States Army and one from the Turkish army, flying on the same helicopter.
On 26 August, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that joint U.S.-Turkish ground patrols within the zone would begin "soon".
Planned SDF withdrawal begins On 27 August, the first stage of the planned Kurdish withdrawal came into effect, with YPG units leaving their positions and withdrawing along with their weapons from Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ayn.
On 31 August, Turkish president Erdoğan threatened that Turkey would "implement its own plans" if Turkish soldiers are not allowed to control the buffer zone in Northern Syria within two or three weeks.
On 4 September, the SDF's Ras al-Ayn military council (composed of local fighters loyal to the SDF) began joint patrols with U.S. personnel around the town, following the withdrawal of regular SDF units from the area a week prior. Turkish president Erdogan described the buffer zone as "nothing more than a name". Despite Erdoğan's statement, his spokesman stated that Turkey had already completed its preparations for the implementation of the "U.S.-Turkish joint operational plan". An SDF executive council co-chair stated that the buffer zone had gone off to a "good start", but insisted that Turkey must withdraw its troops from the border before "calm could prevail".
On 5 September, U.S. and Turkish helicopters conducted a third round of joint aerial reconnaissance patrols within the buffer zone. Turkish president Erdoğan expressed his desire to resettle one million refugees (out of the 3.6 million residing in Turkey at that point) within the buffer zone. He accused the international community, namely the European Union, of not providing help with the refugee burden. He threatened to "open the gates", implying to let all of the refugees freely emigrate, if Turkey did not receive support for its plans in the buffer zone. He then demanded that joint U.S.-Turkish (ground) patrols within the zone begin by the last week of September.
On 6 September, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar announced that joint U.S.-Turkish ground patrols within the zone were due to begin on Sunday, 8 September.
Joint ground patrols begin
On 8 September, Turkish and United States Armed Forces personnel conducted their first joint ground patrol starting from the perimeter of Tell Abyad, close to the Turkish town of Akçakale.Turkey, US begin ‘safe zone’ joint patrols in north Syria Six Turkish armored vehicles were involved in the patrol, along with several American armored vehicles, with the U.S. vehicles leading the convoy. The patrol headed to a Kurdish-controlled base to inspect it and to ensure that trenches and sand berms had been removed. The Assad government vehemently condemned the initiation of joint patrols, stating that it viewed them as representing a flagrant violation of Syria's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Turkish president Erdoğan expressed dissatisfaction with the buffer zone, accusing the United States of creating the buffer zone for the benefit of the YPG, instead of Turkey.
On 10 September, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accused the United States of "stalling" the implementation of the zone and reasserted the threat that Turkey would unilaterally invade Northern Syria, if it deemed it necessary. He further demanded that the safe zone be expanded to 32 km, rather than the 5-9-14 model being implemented at that point by the U.S. and SDF.