Russian army chief in Syria meets Kurds over Turkey tensions

BEIRUT (AP) — A Kurdish spokesman and an Arab TV station say the chief of Russian forces in Syria has met with a Kurdish commander over threats by Turkey to launch a new incursion into northern Syria. The visit by Lt. Gen. Alexander Chaiko to the northeast came days after Turkey’s president vowed to order a land invasion of northern Syria targeting Kurdish groups following the Nov. 3 explosion in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded dozens. An Arab TV station said the Chaiko suggested that Syrian government forces replaced Kurdish fighters along the border with Turkey.