ISTANBUL — A tenuous cease-fire between the Turkish military and Syrian Kurdish militants largely held for a fourth day on Monday, with Kurdish forces withdrawing from a flashpoint town and Turkey warning it will restart its military offensive in northern Syria if the pullout falls short.

The next phase of Turkey’s military operation to wrest control of much of northeast Syria from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces may now depend on the outcome of talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. "We will take up this process with Mr. Putin. After that, we will hopefully take the necessary steps," Erdogan said in televised comments. He did not elaborate.

Turkey agreed to pause its operation for 120 hours under a US-brokered deal last week to allow the SDF to evacuate after President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to pull the 1,000 or so special forces who trained and armed the SDF set the stage for Turkey to roll in troops on Oct. 9.

The fighting has killed dozens of people and forced more than 165,000 to flee their homes. Amnesty International accused the Turkish military and armed groups it backs of “a shameful disregard for civilian life [and] carrying out serious violations and war crimes.” Erdogan has rejected such claims as part of a disinformation campaign.