Kurdish forces agree to hand over Afrin to Syrian regime troops - Shaam

AMMAN, Feb 18 (KUNA) -- Kurdish armed groups agreed to hand over Syria's northwestern city of Afrin to Damascus regime's forces to "protect the city" from a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish separatists, Shaam news network reported Sunday.
Syria's democratic forces, the main faction of the Kurdish people protection units (YPG), reached an initial agreement with the Syrian government that paved way for deployment of regime troops into Afrin, Shaam said.
The Syrian regime forces will be deployed and stationed in Afrin, it added.
The agreement could not be independently confirmed, but Shaam said the two sides were still talking about this deployment.
The Turkish army has been launching operation Olive Branch against strongholds of Kurdish militants and so-called Islamic State (IS) in Afrin since January 20.
Russian diplomatic sources said earlier Moscow wanted the Syrian regime forces to deploy in Afrin to stop the Turkish offensive.
Media reports said few days ago that the Syrian regime offered the Syrian democratic forces that its troops deploy in Afrin and raise the flag over government buildings in addition to complete surrender of the Syrian democratic forces. (end) tk.bs