US vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday that he reached an agreement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pause all military operations in northern Syria.
The agreement comes after four hours of negotiations between Mike Pence and Erdogan.
The decision of pausing all military operations in northern Syria has been taken to allow the withdraw of YPG forces.
Speaking after crisis talks with Erdogan inAnkara, Pence said that under the deal all military operations would be pausedto allow a pullback of Kurdish YPG militia over a 120-hour period. The Turkishmilitary operation would end once that withdrawal was complete, Pence told anews conference.
"Today the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria," Pence told a news conference after more than four hours of talks at the presidential palace in Ankara.
"The Turkish side will pause OperationPeace Spring in order to allow for the withdrawal of YPG forces from the safezone for 120 hours," Pence said. "All military operations underOperation Peace Spring will be paused, and Operation Peace Spring will behalted entirely on completion of the withdrawal."
The Turkish assault has created a new humanitarian crisis in Syria with 200,000 civilians taking flight, a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails, and a political maelstrom at home for President Donald Trump.
