Northern Syria Buffer Zone

Northern Syria Buffer Zone
Syrian-Turkish border, Syria
Turkish and American soldiers provide security for a joint ground patrol in the Northern Syria Buffer Zone, 24 September 2019
Type	Demilitarised zone
Length	115 kilometres (71 mi)
Site information
Controlled by	Syrian Democratic Forces and SDF Military Councils (during existence)
Open to the public	No
Condition	No longer in effect, replaced with Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone
Site history
Built by	Syrian Democratic Forces  United States  Turkey
In use	16 August–9 October 2019
Events	Syrian civil war

Part of a series on the Syrian civil war
Syrian peace process
History Arab League initiative I 2011 Arab League initiative II 2011–12 Churkin peace plan 2012 Kofi Annan peace plan (Geneva I) 2012 Lakhdar Brahimi peace plan 2012 U.S.–Russia peace proposal (2013) 2013 Geneva II Mideast peace conference 2014 Staffan de Mistura peace plan 2015 Zabadani agreement 2015 Vienna talks 2015 Geneva III 2016 US-Russia ceasefire proposal (2016) 2016 Geneva IV 2017 Idlib demilitarization 2018 Northern Syria Buffer Zone 2019 Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone 2019 Syrian Constitutional Committee 2019 Syrian-Turkish normalization 2022–24
Primary concerns Bashar Assad presidentship Ba'athist government Opposition government Secularism in Syria Human rights Refugees Humanitarian aid Sectarianism
Secondary concerns Electricity supply Water supply Control of oil Situation in Aleppo Siege of Madaya
International brokers Peace envoy for Syria (United Nations) UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian affairs Arab League
Proposals Federalization of Syria Destruction of Chemical Weapons Constitution amendment: Constitution of Syria Constitution of Syrian Opposition Constitution of Rojava Safe Zones
Projects Friends of Syria Group Free Syrian University Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently
v t e

The Northern Syria Buffer Zone (also known as the Safe Zone, Peace Corridor, or Security Mechanism) was a temporary Syrian civil war demilitarized zone (DMZ) established on the Syrian side of the Syria–Turkey 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.^[1] The DMZ was administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) 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.^[2]

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.