Turkish and Russian armed forces restarted their joint patrols in north and east Syria along the Turkish border, after a three week pause initiated by the Turkish military.

The first joint patrol since 1 Aug launched on Thursday, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

Turkish forces cancelled three previous scheduled patrols prior to the patrol on Thursday, while attacking several sites in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

Setting off from Al-Darbasiyah (Dirbêsiyê), a small town in the Hasakah (Haseke) countryside, the patrol convoy headed eastwards along the Turkish border and arrived at the town of Amuda (Amûdê‎), nearly 30 km from the Qamishlo centre.

Turkish forces had sent a cancellation notice for the current patrol as well, according to SOHR. Russian forces have been positioned in the Qunaitara village of Al-Darbasiyah since 11 August.

Turkey has intensified its offensive in the AANES earlier this month, attacking civilian targets with heavy artillery and drone strikes in Kurdish-majority regions, including Amuda and Qamishlo.

Farhad Shami, the Head of the Office of Media and Information of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, had said on 16 August that the discontinuation of the joint patrol of Turkish and Russian forces was linked with the Turkish forces’ preparation for a military operation in the AANES territories.