Syria: Erdogan warns to restart operation if deal not respected

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in  Syria  on Tuesday evening if they did not withdraw from a “safe zone”.
Turkey has agreed to suspend its offensive for five days in northern  Syria  while Kurdish fighters withdraw from the area, after high stake talks with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara.
“If the promises are kept until Tuesday evening, the safe zone issue will be resolved. If it fails, the operation… will start the minute 120 hours are over,” Erdogan told reporters during a foreign media briefing in Istanbul.
He said Turkish armed forces would remain in the region “because the security there requires this”, adding that the agreement was holding and there had been no issues so far.
But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday there had been Turkish air strikes on the village of Bab al-Kheir, east of Ras al-Ain on the border. The war monitor said 14 civilians were killed.
Turkey launched the cross-border incursion on October 9 after repeatedly threatening to clear the border area from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia.