russia and turkey coming together or are they still competing for influence in syria correspondent dorian jones has more from istanbul on what's been agreed even russia and turkey are backing rival sides in the syrian civil war what we have seen in the last couple of years is. putin increasingly working together because there is a realisation that they have to work together to bring an end to this syrian civil war which is in their all of their interests now this deal is another part of this process that was a potential flashpoint the turkish forces could ultimately get into a shooting war with the syrian regime forces further instability in syria but that deal this present deal does seem to have ended that threat it is part of a process of restoring stability to this area the fact that they are now that the kurds are now beholden to withdraw from the from the border will be a key part of turkey's objectives in this operation and we will now see turkey russian forces on the ground in forcing a buffer zone as part of that process again bringing the 2 countries closer together but beyond th

our correspondent dorian jones is covering this story from istanbul dorian the russian and turkish leaders have hatched a plan for what they think should become of northern syria what exactly they agreed on well this concerns an air around 450 kilometers long in syria now under this deal 120 kilometers that have been already taken by turkish military in the weeklong operation that has been consolidated turkey will continue to hold this territory now the rest of this area which turkey was planning to take control off to a depth of 30 kilometers now that will be put under the control of syrian regime forces and russia they will move up to the border and in the next 150 hours the syrian kurdish forces will have to withdraw from this region to 30 kilometers away from the turkish front here moscow and damascus will guarantee that we've drawn once that has been completed they will be then turkish and russian military patrols along a 10 kilometer strip that borders turkey to guarantee the security under this agreement though it is not clear the verification of the kurdish forces withdrawal to 30

correspondent dorian jones he is in istanbul and oliver salat is on the story for us from washington to both of you good evening oliver let me start with you u.s. president donald trump is describing the agreement the truce that we're seeing between russia and turkey as a major breakthrough made possible by his policy in syria is that true. well that was a very typical a donald trump move essentially what we've been seeing here today is something we've seen before many many times president trump to clear victory on a crisis that he created in the 1st place and let's just remember how this all unfolded there was a phone call between president wretch of type every one of turkey and president trump and as a result of that phone call president trump decided to pull out the u.s. troops of syria that created a power vacuum in syria and essentially and eventually lead it to a deal splitting of syria between russia and turkey and they the outcome of that is that russia became stronger assad became stronger putin became stronger. a lot of course as well and even i since my research in the fut

good evening to you dorian moscow says kurdish forces have left the syrian border area with turkey why are we hearing so little from the other parties involved here well one has said that if that doesn't accept the statements coming from moscow that's despite talk we should fishel is earlier in the day voicing concern things as many as 2000 kurdish militia have not withdrawn beyond the 30 kilometer border agreed in this cease fire agreement and the one that earlier in the week been warning that he would crush the heads of any militia that did not withdraw but following the statements coming from moscow it seems uncle is prepared to give the benefit of the doubt this comes at the same time as we have had these proposed sort of patrol once he came under fire from fire across the turkish side of the boulder and on top of that we've had reports that turkish militias fighting with the turkish forces in heavy fighting with damascus regime full season a number of deaths have been reported but given the spike all these reports moscow at the 9 them in damascus isn't commenting so all sides at t

a whole for there some very insult or in words for turkey let's bring in our correspondent istanbul dorian jones story and what happened 1st off to the e.u. kerr turkey refugee deal why is it not working. well i mean well there is that we have seen this increase in the number of refugees entering greece from turkey small to the levels that preceded the refugee to. deal but it is causing concern that this deal could be starting to break down because it comes at a time when the turkish president right type of one is warning he will open his orders to europe he does not receive help over refugees and why he made that warning is that turkey could be facing another massive influx of syrian refugees because the last rebel enclave in which borders turkey could be set to be falling to regime forces if that was to happen taiki could be seeing a 1000000 maybe more refugees coming into turkey turkey is were ringing the alarm bell saying we cannot take any more it needs help ok well germany is hearing the alarm bell europe is to what could germany and the e.u. be offering today to to get turkey to onc

joining me now is our correspondents dorian jones in istanbul and our chief political correspondent melinda during messed off with you know what happened to this refugee day why is it not working. well this all started when the turkish president may have type one gave a warning that he's ready to open he's bold as to europe if they do not address turkey's refugee concerns why tokyo is now warning about these fears it is ready for another mass influx of refugees into turkey from the syrian province of idlib which is the last rebel enclave i could well full to syrian forces in the coming weeks possibly months turkey says it cannot take any more refugees it needs europe to join in working together to resolve this this is tokyo issuing a law the whole of europe on these refugees going to greece is seen as part of up warming and they don't want to germany and the e.u. offering to get it once again behind this refugee agreement that they made with the country between the lines the money that's not what the german interior minister is saying in so many words but if you look at what he is saying he

to you dorian the turkish military operation it has now gone from just an air of assault to a ground assault what do we know i mean troops and forces have actually crossed the border now right. well that's right the turkish defense ministry in a statement has said that the ground operation has begun saying soldiers have crossed across the syrian border into these towns held by the syrian kurdish militia this follows of bombardment by turkish jets and turkish artillery pounding . syrian militia and bases. possibly to the turkish military expediting this operation into previous operations in the past couple of years the . last had full days even one case a couple of weeks this that indicates that. these operations ground operations this could be costly and reaction to the growing backlash in washington you just heard the u.s. president donald trump again threatening to destroy turkey's economy if he if they go too far against the cuts so there is a realization that he need to get on with the top aeration with the ground forces on the ground this spring tempo in the operation and withou

or listing the story down to turkey to be correspondent dorian jones joins me now from istanbul good evening to you dorian the turkish military operation it has now gone from just an air assault to a ground assault what do we know i mean troops forces have actually crossed the border now right well that's right the turkish defense ministry in a statement has said that the ground operation has begun saying soldiers have crossed across the syrian border into these towns help.

jones is standing by in istanbul good evening to you dorian what kind of operation are we looking at here dorian we just saw in that tweet from richard the goal here is to neutralize terrorist threats but is he talking about the terrorists being the kurds or is he talking about the terrorists being the isis prisoners that are in the area . you speak to touch officials they'll say it's both but let's be clear the primary optics of this operation is to drive back the syrian kurdish militia that has been on turkey's boulder for several years except that this group is a terrorist organization linked to a kurdish insurgency in the site turkey and they say that they have been committed to removing this threat from its from its border and it will point to the fact that it has getting support from the international community saying that they are respecting turkey's right to protect its bolt and now this operation is going to be a major operation.