(UTV|COLOMBO) – Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire in northern Syria to let Kurdish-led forces withdraw.
The deal came after US Vice-President Mike Pence and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met for talks in Ankara.
All fighting will be paused for five days, and the US will help facilitate the withdrawal of Kurdish-led troops from what Turkey terms a “safe zone” on the border, Mr Pence said.
It is unclear if the Kurdish YPG will fully comply, however.
Commander Mazloum Kobani said Kurdish-led forces would observe the agreement in the area between the border towns of Ras al-Ayin and Tal Abyad, where fighting has been fierce.
“We have not discussed the fate of other areas,” he said.
UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said clashes were continuing in Ras al-Ain despite the ceasefire announcement.
It said 72 civilians had been killed inside Syria and more than 300,000 displaced over the past eight days.
What prompted the offensive?
Turkey launched the cross-border offensive last week, after US President Donald Trump announced he was pulling US forces out of the Syria-Turkey border region.
Its goal was to push back a Kurdish militia group – the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – that Turkey views as a terrorist organisation.
Turkey had hoped to resettle up to two million Syrian refugees in the border area, but critics warned that could trigger ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population. (BBC)
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