Ankara and Washington agreed on Wednesday to establish a joint operation center in Turkey to coordinate and manage a planned safe zone in northeast Syria, a move that appeared to reduce the chance of imminent Turkish military action.
The two countries gave few details of the deal, which followed three days of talks between military delegations and months of stalemate over how far the safe zone should extend into Syria and who should command forces patrolling it.
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The proposed zone aims to secure a strip of land stretching more than 400 km (250 miles) along Syria's northeastern border with Turkey, much of it controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia that fought with US support against Islamic State terrorists.
Ankara sees the YPG as terrorists who pose a security threat and has demanded the United States sever its ties with the Kurdish militia.
Turkey has twice sent forces into northern Syria in the last three years to drive back YPG and Islamic State fighters from the border, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said on Sunday a third incursion was imminent, targeting YPG-controlled territory east of the Euphrates river.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday alongside his Ukrainian counterpart, Erdogan said that talks with the United States had progressed in a "really positive" direction.
The Syrian government blasted the agreement, which it said represented a "blatant attack" on Syria's sovereignty and territorial unity and a "dangerous escalation."
According to Damascus, the US-Turkish "aggression" represented "a dangerous escalation and a threat to peace and stability in the area."
