Russia sends hundreds of military police to Syria for border patrols

Deployment is part of deal reached with Turkey to jointly monitor safe zone in north-east Syria

Civilians gesture while riding on a tractor as they withdraw from the border town of Tal Abyad, Syria. Reuters

Syrians ride in the back of a farmer's truck as they flee villages where fighting continues in the countryside of Tal Abyad. AFP

Smoke billows following a reported Russian air strike in the south of the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib near the village of Rakya. AFP

Russian military police vehicles drive through a street in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli. AFP

Russian military police members stand outside an armoured vehicle along a road in the countryside near the northeastern Syrian town of Amuda in Hasakeh province. AFP

A man watches as a Russian military police armoured vehicle passes through a street in the northeastern Syrian town of Amuda. AFP

Members of the Syrian Kurdish Asayish internal security forces ride in the back of a pickup truck during a joint patrol with Russian military police vehicles in Amuda. AFP

A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel gestures as they drive their military tank near the border town of Tal Abyad. Reuters

Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighters walk inside a building they use to shelter near the border town of Tal Abyad. Reuters

Russian forces patrol in the city of Amuda. AP Photo

A burnt car is seen along a deserted street in the town of Ras Al Ain. Reuters

An elderly woman and a child are seen along a deserted street in the town of Ras Al Ain. Reuters

About 300 Russian military police have arrived in Syria to patrol the flashpoint Syrian-Turkish frontier, Russia's defence ministry said on Friday.

The military police, who arrived from the Russian region of Chechnya, will work to ensure the safety of the population and help Kurdish forces withdraw to a line 30 kilometres from the border, the ministry said.

More than 20 armoured vehicles were also sent to Syria to help carry out the patrols.

The deployment follows an agreement between Russia and Turkey this week that will see Russian military police and Syrian border guards "facilitate the removal" of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) from within 30 kilometres of the border.

The Turkey-Russia agreement was reached after talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday.

Russian military police conducted the first patrols on Wednesday.

The deal follows the decision by US President Donald Trump to pull US troops who were allied with Kurdish forces that bore the brunt of the fight against ISIS in Syria.

But on Thursday the US said it would beef up its military presence to protect north-eastern Syria oil fields as Kurdish forces abandoned several positions.

Turkey says it wants to push the Kurdish forces that it considers terrorists away from its border and create a safe zone where it can relocate some of the roughly 3.6 million Syrian refugees that it is hosting.

But rights groups on Friday accused the Turkish authorities of forcing the refugees to return.

Amnesty International said it spoke with refugees who said Turkish police had beaten or threatened them into signing documents stating that they were asking to return to Syria.

"In reality, Turkey was forcing them back to a war zone and putting their lives in grave danger," Amnesty said in a report, adding that people were "being tricked or forced into returning".

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also issued its own report on Friday alleging that "dozens of Syrians and possibly many more" were arbitrarily detained and deported to northern Syria between January and September 2019, despite active conflict there.

Amnesty estimated that the number of refugees affected over the past few months was likely to be in the hundreds.