Kurdish-backed Syria fighters agree truce with Turkey

Kurdish-backed fighters on Tuesday announced they have agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire with Turkey in northern Syria for an unspecified period of time. “We agreed on a ceasefire with the Turkish state via the United states and the international coalition” that is fighting the Islamic State group, said Ali Hajo, spokesman of the Jarablus Military Council. Speaking to AFP by telephone, Hajo said the truce took effect at midnight and was expected to last “for an unspecified period of time”. “We are continuing to negotiate (with the Turkish forces) through the Americans,” he said without elaborating. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was calm on the southern front of Jarablus, which Turkish forces captured from IS jihadists last week on the first day of their incursion into Syria. Hajo's comments came after a US defence official told AFP in Washington that Turkish and Kurdish forces in northern Syria had reached a “loose agreement” to stop fighting each other. “In the last several hours, we have received assurance that all parties involved are going to stop shooting at each other and focus on the ISIL threat,” said Colonel John Thomas, Central Command spokesman .