Following months of tension and threats, the first agreement to establish the Northern Syria Buffer Zone was reached in mid August 2019, between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the United States on the one hand, and Turkey on the other. The deal aimed to limit the Turkish offensive on Syria's north through a process of gradual withdrawal of SDF, removal of fortifications and joint US-Turkish monitoring and patrols, while still allowing the area to remain under the civil control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the military control of the Syrian Democratic Forces military councils as per the first buffer zone agreement. Despite initial progress being made its implementation,[lower-alpha 1] however, Turkey grew more and more dissatisfied with it, issuing more demands which were rejected by the SDF.[8][9]