Dmitry Peskov said Saturday the information that the Syrian government's forces had taken control of the city of Manbij was true, Sputnik reported.
On Friday, the Syrian Arab Army announced its troops had entered the northern city of Manbij after a request by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) to take control of the town after US pledge to withdraw from the region.
Once the news broke, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the claims as a "psychological operation" and said that the situation in the area remained unclear, adding, “we are against dividing Syria, our goal is to have terrorists out of there. Then we will have no other business there.”
This is while top diplomatic and military officials from Russia and Turkey are meeting in Moscow on Saturday to discuss developments in Syria’s northeast, RT reported. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu have started a face-to-face meeting with their Turkish counterparts Mevlut Cavusoglu and Hulusi Akar, who arrived in Moscow on Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Bahram Ghasemi welcomed the Syrian army move, saying, “the Islamic Republic of Iran highlights the need to respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and considers the raising of Syria’s national flag in the city of Manbij an important step toward the establishment of the legitimate rule of Syrian government over the entire country, as well as a new step toward solving the crisis in this country.”
SPUTNIK/MNA
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