Turkey and the United States have agreed to set up a joint operation centre to coordinate a planned safe zone in northern Syria, the Turkish defence ministry has said.
The announcement on Wednesday came on the third day of talks between the two NATO allies, who have been stuck in a deadlock for months over the size of the zone and who would command it, Aljazeera reports.
Turkey had previously accused the US of dragging its feet.
ALSO READ:Â Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome resigns(Opens in a new browser tab)
The joint operation centre will be based in Turkey, according to the defence ministry.
The talks started after Turkey said it was considering military intervention in northern Syria against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.
Turkey considers the group an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an outlawed separatist group.
The US has supported the YPG in its fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS).
More to follow…
and then