page_title: Northern Syria Buffer Zone
section_title: Implementation timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Syria Buffer Zone / Implementation timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. service member watches as Syrian Democratic Forces remove military fortifications during the implementation of the security mechanism along the Turkey-Syria border in northeast Syria, Aug. 22, 2019. The security mechanism is intended to secure and stabilize the border in a sustainable manner, ensure campaign continuity in the Global Coalition's efforts to defeat ISIS, and limit any uncoordinated military operations. The security mechanism will be executed in designated phases and in a coordinated and combined manner to ensure security and stability along the Turkey-Syria border.
context_page_description: The Northern Syria Buffer Zone was a temporary Syrian Civil War demilitarized zone established on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2019 to maintain security along the border and to dissuade a prospective Turkish invasion of the self-proclaimed Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The DMZ was administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and their military councils and enforced by United States Armed Forces and Turkish Armed Forces personnel.
  The buffer zone collapsed in early October 2019, before it was fully implemented, when Turkey dismissed the agreement on 1 October and the United States abandoned the effort on 6 October after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria, allowing for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's planned ground incursion into the region. The subsequent Turkish offensive on 9 October rendered the buffer zone fully obsolete.
  The failed Turkish-U.S. arrangement was replaced on 22 October 2019 with the separate Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone, negotiated between Russia, Turkey and the Syrian government.
context_section_description: On 14 August 2019, Turkish observation drones began surveillance flights over the buffer zone.
  On 22 August, the SDF began dismantling border fortifications along the Syrian-Turkish border under U.S. supervision.
  On 24 August, Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar reported that the U.S.-Turkish combined joint operations center (CJOC) was fully operational, adding that joint helicopter flights would begin that same day.
  The first joint U.S.-Turkish helicopter flight took place, with two generals, one from the U.S. Army and one from the Turkish army, flying on the same helicopter.
  On 26 August, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that joint U.S.-Turkish patrols within the zone would begin "soon".
caption: Syrian Democratic Forces dismantling border fortifications in northern Syria under the supervision of U.S. soldiers, 22 August 2019
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