Commander of the Russian forces in Syria, Alexander Chayko

The commander of the Russian forces in Syria, Alexander Chayko, visited the northeastern province of al-Hasakah, on Sunday, and met with the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, Mazloum Abdi, according to Al Mayadeen sources.

Al Mayadeen sources stated that the meeting "discussed the Turkish threats to launch a ground operation and ways to take measures to prevent the operation from taking place," stressing that Chayko "reintroduced the idea of the deployment of the Syrian army along the border strip, at a depth of 30 km."

The visit comes in light of the most recent escalation at the Turkish-Syrian border following the Turkish air and artillery bombardment of SDF sites and the corresponding missile strikes on Turkish border villages, after Ankara accused the organization of involvement in the recent Istanbul bombing.

Chayko had met Abdi in 2020 to discuss coordination with the Turkish side regarding raids on a Kurdish site.

Russia, Turkey disagree over Syria, but can openly discuss it: Peskov

Russia is receiving indications from Ankara and Damascus about being open to making steps towards one another and about hopes for a Syrian-Turkish rapprochement, Russia's special presidential envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, told reporters on Wednesday, November 23, following the 19th round of the Astana talks on Syria.

"We hope that we will gradually witness a certain Syrian-Turkish rapprochement, this is simply necessary because these are two neighboring states that should live in friendship. I think that the signals that we have regarding both Turkey and Syria's readiness to take certain steps towards each other, these are steps in the right direction, which will prevent such tragic incidents related to the death of civilians," Lavrentyev said.

Moscow believes the Kurds were "given the go-ahead" to carry out a terrorist attack in Istanbul, he added.

"We cannot say that these terrorist attacks, behind which, as our Turkish partners told us, is the PKK, are some kind of initiative on the part of this structure. Probably, after all, some kind of go-ahead was given to them," he said at a press conference.