Turkey has paused the assault for 120 hours and said it will end it if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from a 32km wide “safe zone” along the border.

But the move was not enough to satisfy European leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels, some of whom have already halted arms sales to Ankara in protest.

“The European Council notes tonight’s US-Turkey announcement on a pause for all military operations,” the 28 leaders said in a joint statement.

“It again urges Turkey to end its military action, to withdraw its forces and to respect international humanitarian law,” the leaders said in a summit statement.

NATO member Turkey says the operation is needed to stop what it calls Kurdish “terrorists” using the border area as a base to launch attacks in its territory.

But the EU says the operation is causing “unacceptable human suffering” and undermines the fight against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.