The US has pulled Turkey back from the brink of a full-on military assault on Kurdish-held Syria, after agreeing to a “safezone”.

After three days of talks, the two countries on Wednesday announced they planned to establish a joint operation centre in Turkey to coordinate and manage a planned deconfliction zone in northern Syria.

However, the agreement was scant on detail. It is still unclear which areas the so-called safezone covers, which forces will police it, and when it will be implemented.

Ankara had been demanding a hundreds of miles-long and 15-25mile-wide buffer zone, which was to be clear of fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia.

They also wanted the US to sever ties with the group, which had been its main frontline partner against the Islamic State (Isil).

Turkey sees the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency inside its territory for the past 35 years.

The demand put the US in a difficult position, forcing it to juggle the interests of anti-Isil coalition partner, the YPG, and Nato ally Turkey.