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.