Turkey's Syria ceasefire doesn't appear to have taken hold yet

Shelling in Ras al-Ayn after ceasefire
(Image credit: Burak Kara/Getty Images)

Some people are clearly happy about the five-day pause in fighting in northeastern Syria that Turkey and the U.S. negotiated Thursday — Turkey refuses to call it a ceasefire — giving America's Kurdish former allies a chance to retreat from a "safe zone" Turkey plans to carve out inside Syria.

President Trump called the deal "a great day for civilization," while Turkish officials and pro-government media hailed it as a "great victory" in which "Turkey got everything it wanted." The chaos in northeast Syria is also "proving to be a propaganda windfall" for the Islamic State, which is "racing to capitalize on the deteriorating security situation," The Washington Post reports.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.