On the night of Oct. 17, Turkey announced its agreement to suspend Operation Peace Spring in northeastern Syria for 120 hours. The announcement came following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyeb Erdogan and US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara that day.

“We have already begun to facilitate [the People’s Protection Units' (YPG)] safe withdrawal from the nearly 20-mile-wide safe zone area, south of the Turkish border in Syria,” Pence told reporters at the US Embassy in Ankara.

Erdogan had announced Oct. 9 the start of a military operation against the YPG east of the Euphrates. Erdogan said then on Twitter that the Turkish armed forces, along with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, had begun a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Since the operation began, the Turkish army and its Syrian allies have managed to take control of dozens of villages and towns in the area, most importantly Tell Abyad. Ground forces, meanwhile, have advanced on two main axes: first in Ras al-Ain in Hasakah province, and second in Tell Abyad region in Raqqa province.