Kurdish withdrawal: Turkey to suspend Syria offensive

The deal came after US Vice-President Mike Pence and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met for talks in Ankara, reported BBC.

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, Pence was quoted as saying by BBC.

The decision taken by  Kurdish YPG  is still not clear.

Commander Mazloum Kobani was quoted as saying by BBC that 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.

Turkey considers Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as a terror organiztion and it says it aims to push Kurdish forces from the border region. 

The withdrawal of US troops from the region, announced recently, gave Turkey a "green light" for the offensive, critics of US President Donald Trump administration were quoted as saying by BBC.

The US, however, has denied it.

Amid ongoing fighting in northern Syria and disturbing reports that extrajudicial killings have been streamed online, the United Nations and their partners are continuing to deliver humanitarian supplies to tens of thousands of people displaced by the violence, UN agencies stressed on Tuesday.

To date, at least 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the offensive began on Oct 9, according to UN figures, with hospitals and schools and other public infrastructure hit or affected by the fighting.