US forces withdraw from key base in northern Syria

• US forces withdrew from their largest base in northern Syria.
• A US-brokered ceasefire was announced late Thursday, giving Kurdish forces until Tuesday evening to withdraw from a safe zone.

TAL TAMR: US forces withdrew from their largest base in northern Syria on Sunday, a monitor said, as Turkey accused Kurdish forces of killing one of its soldiers in fighting that tested a fragile truce.

Ankara launched a cross-border attack against Syria's Kurds on October 9 after the United States announced a military pullout from the north of the war-torn country.

A US-brokered ceasefire was announced late Thursday, giving Kurdish forces until Tuesday evening to withdraw from a "safe zone" Ankara wants to create along its southern frontier.

The Kurds have been a key ally to Washington in the US-backed fight against Islamic State group jihadists in Syria, but Turkey views them as "terrorists" linked to Kurdish militants on its own soil.

On Sunday, an AFP correspondent saw more than 70 US armoured vehicles escorted by helicopters drive past the northern Syrian town of Tal Tamr carrying military equipment.

Some flew the American stars-and-stripes flag as they made their way eastwards along a highway crossing the town, he said.

The Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights said the convoy was evacuating the Sarrin military base.

The vehicles appeared to be heading to the town of Hassakeh, further east, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information.

Sarrin is situated more than 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of the border town of Kobane, on the edges of the Turkish-desired "safe zone," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.