Turkey is violating an hours-old ceasefire in northeastern Syria and still targeting civilians with air strikes and artillery fire, a Kurdish military spokesman has said.
"Despite the agreement to halt the fighting, air and artillery attacks continue to target the positions of fighters, civilian settlements and the hospital" in the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain, Mustefa Bali said.
The air strike hit a village near the battleground border town of Ras al-Ain in northeastern Syria and killed five civilians on Friday, a war monitor said.
Shelling and gunfire have also resounded in the area of northeast Syria's Ras al-Ain town, a day after Turkey agreed with the United States to to let Kurdish-led forces withdraw.
Smoke clouds rising from the scene of clashes between the Syria democratic forces (SDF) and Turkish troops and their Syrian opposition allies near Ras al-Ain. Source: EPA
From the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar across the border from Ras al-Ain, the sound of machine-gun fire and shelling was heard in the area of Ras al-Ain on Friday.
Smoke rose from one part of the Syrian town.
"There are sporadic artillery strikes and you can hear shooting in the town of Ras al-Ain," Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told reporters.
He said both the Turkish military and its Syrian allies were involved in the fighting with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The truce was announced by US Vice-President Mike Pence after talks in Ankara with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, and was praised by President Donald Trump, who said it would save "millions of lives".
If implemented it would achieve all the main objectives Turkey announced when it launched its assault on 9 October: control of a strip of Syria more than 30km deep, with the Kurdish militia, once US allies, obliged to pull out.
It was also unclear if the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces would fully comply with the agreement, which would leave Turkish forces in charge of a swathe of territory the Kurds once held with US military support.
The Turkish offensive in northeastern Syria against Kurdish militants has displaced more than 300,000 people, human rights organisations say. Source: EPA
Earlier, the SDF said they were "ready to abide by the ceasefire" in the border strip between Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad.
A convoy of Turkish backed Free Syria Army is about to cross into Turkey. Source: AP
Ras al-Ain has been a major goal of the Turkish offensive since its launch but the town's Kurdish defenders have put up fierce resistance.
With wires...
