WEB DESK
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 yesterday.
As per deal 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.
Chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in a Kurdish TV interview said they would observe the agreement in the area between the border towns of Ras al-Ayin and Tal Abyad, where fighting has been fierce. However he said they have not discussed the fate of other areas referring to parts of the northeast where Turkey wants to create what it calls a safe zone.
Abdi urged Washington to guarantee the return of the displaced and ensure the region does not undergo demographic change as Turkey wants to create a buffer zone 30 kilometres deep on the Syrian side of the border, to keep Kurdish militias at bay and resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees living on its soil.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes in Ras al-Ain continued despite news of the agreement.
Since Turkey launched its invasion of northeastern Syria on October 9, dozens of civilians have been killed and 3 lakh have been displaced, according to the Observatory.