For novini.bg, by Prof. Vladimir Chukov, a well-known Arabist, university professor and scholar in the field of Middle East politics and Islam.

On his way back from a summit in the Iranian capital Tehran, Turkish President Recep Erdogan publicly called on the US to withdraw from Syrian territories east of the Euphrates.

He emphasized that this is one of the results of the meeting of the Astana process, in which the heads of state of Turkey, Russia and Iran participated.

He told reporters that Washington supports the pro-Kurdish People's Protection Units there.

However, he also allows for the situation that the US will only cut off its support for them, as they perceive them as a terrorist organization.

At the same time, the Kurdish website North Press Agency published a photo of the meeting of the CENTCOM commander, General Michael Kurila, with the commander of the units of the Syrian Democratic Forces /SDF/, a part of which are Mazloum Abdi.

According to the Kurdish media, gen.

Kurila has stated that "the US military and government institutions oppose any possible Turkish attack on northeastern Syria."

The contact took place in Hasake Prefecture.

Twenty days ago, the CENTCOM commander visited another strategically important US base in Syria.

As the Foreign Insider wrote, it is about at Tanaf on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which is on the Baghdad-Damascus highway.

The visit of the American senior officer coincides with the activation of the commander of the Russian army, General Alexander Chaiko.

At the Russian military base in Qamishli, Hasakeh province, he met with representatives of the SDF.

There he presented a plan for the transfer from the SDF to the Syrian army of control over the border areas between Syria and Turkey, as well as the M4 highway, which runs parallel to the border.

A similar agreement was adopted in Sochi between Turkey and Russia in 2019, but remained unimplemented.

According to the text, the Russian military has special tasks to monitor traffic on the thoroughfare.

In Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei directly called on Russian President Putin to expel the Americans from Syria.

Prof. Vladimir Chukov