France’s Macron tells Erdogan Syria truce also applies to Afrin

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told his Turkish counterpart that a U.N. call at the weekend for a ceasefire across Syria also applied to Syria’s Afrin region.

Turkey deployed police special forces to the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin on Monday for a “new battle” in its five-week campaign against the Kurdish YPG militia.

Macron also told Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call that it was imperative that the cease-fire be fully respected and added that France’s monitoring of humanitarian access and chemical weapons is “total and permanent,” Macron’s office said in a statement.