Turkey threatens to 'crush' Kurds if they fail to withdraw before Tue

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has now threatened to "crush the heads" of Kurdish fighters if they fail to pull out from the 'safe zone' along the Syrian border. If the pullout does not happen by Tuesday evening, "we will start where we left off and continue to crush the terrorists' heads," Erdogan said in a televised speech in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri.

Ankara has agreed to suspend its Syria offensive for five days with a ceasefire agreement with the US to end the assault if  Kurdish-led forces withdraw from the proposed safe zone away from the border. Erdogan also provided some details from his talks with the Americans, adding that Ankara agreed to the 120 hour time deadline after its initial demand of "one night" for the withdrawal.

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"If the promises given to our country are not kept, as we did in the past we will not wait and restart the operation as soon as the time we have given ends," he said.

The Turkish leader said he also informed US President Donald Trump of Ankara's position during a phone call late Friday. However, almost 30 hours after the peace truce between Turkey and the US to curb ceasefire along the northeastern Syria border, the Syrian Kurds accused Ankara of not complying with the agreement by refusing to lift a siege it had imposed on the country's borders. 

The Syrian Democratic Forces called on US Vice President Mike Pence to take responsibility of the situation since it was him who negotiated the deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. 

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Trump's 'Two kids' remark

Donald Trump, after abruptly abandoning the US allies, compared the attack on Syrian Kurds by the Turkish military to a schoolyard fight.  Addressing in Texas' Dallas, Trump said, "sometimes you have to let them fight a little while," over Turkey's military incursion in Syria.

He added, "Sometimes you have to let them fight. It's like two kids in a lot, you got to let them fight and then you pull them apart. But it was unconventional, but they fought for a few days, but it was pretty vicious. But the Kurds are our friends, Turkey's our friend but they fought, I mean it was nasty."
 

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 (With agency inputs)