Photo: The Wall Street JournalThe sudden departure has unsettled residents of this area along the Syrian border with Turkey. As part of that mechanism, Kurdish forces demolished some of their border defenses. The U.S. forces stationed here until Monday served as a buffer between Turkish and Kurdish forces. Civilians here said they feared a repeat of what happened to the west, in Efrin, where Turkish forces invaded last year to drive out Kurdish forces. American and Kurdish officials said the U.S. troops that withdrew from the border outposts had moved to other bases in Syria.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 08, 2019 18:36 UTC