Syria Kurds accuse Turkey of scuppering US-brokered deal

Beirut:The commander of Kurdish forces in Syria accused Turkey of sabotaging a US-brokered truce Saturday by blocking the withdrawal of his forces from a flashpoint border town in northeastern Syria.
In a wide-ranging interview with AFP, Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), also said he still wished to see a role for the US in Syria to counterbalance Russian influence, while recommitting his forces to countering the Islamic State (IS) group.
“The Turks are preventing the withdrawal from the Ras al-Ain area, preventing the exit of our forces, the wounded and civilians,” Abdi said in a phone interview from Syria.
Under a US-brokered ceasefire announced Thursday evening, the massively outgunned SDF forces are meant to withdraw from a key strategic area near the Syrian-Turkish border within five days.
A Turkish official accused the Kurds of “disseminating false information to sabotage the Turkey-US agreement” and denied Ankara was blocking a pullout.
“Turkey is 100% behind the deal,” the official said.