Washington D.C. [USA], Oct 18 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) hailed the deal between Washington and Ankara to have a ceasefire in Syria as a "great day for civilization" while stressing that it required some 'tough' love to get it done.

Soon after the announcement of the deal, President Trump stressed that it could have never been done three days back and tweeted, "This deal could NEVER have been made 3 days ago. There needed to be some "tough" love in order to get it done. Great for everybody. Proud of all!"He also termed it as a great day for civilization and said that he had to take a somewhat unconventional path for the same.

"This is a great day for civilization. I am proud of the United States for sticking by me in following a necessary, but somewhat unconventional, path. People have been trying to make this "Deal" for many years. Millions of lives will be saved. Congratulations to ALL!," Trump said in another tweet.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed that Ankara had agreed to temporarily halt its offensive in northeast Syria to allow Kurdish fighters to withdraw from the region.

"The US side has accepted the necessity of a safe zone to protect Turkey's security interests. And we have reached a full agreement for the Turkish army to control this zone," he told a news conference in Ankara quoted by Al Jazeera.

"This is not a ceasefire, a ceasefire can only be made only between two legitimate sides," he said, adding that withdrawing Kurdish fighters will return their heavy weapons and destroy their fortifications.

The deal was reached in the presence of US Vice President Mike Pence, State Secretary Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien.

In a letter dated October 9, Trump wrote to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening him against Syria offensive and asking him 'not to be a fool'.

Threatening to destroy the Turkish economy, the US President added, "Let's work out a good deal! You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy -and I will. I have already given you a little sample with respect to Pastor Brunson."Switching from his aggressive tone, Trump had then offered him prospects of a favourable deal as an option to save the region from further destruction.

The international community has already voiced concerns that the Turkish incursion could worsen the humanitarian situation in the region and hamper the efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.

Turkey launched its military operation last week after the United States, an ally of Kurdish militia People's Protection Units (YPG), in the war against Islamic State militants, announced the withdrawal of its troops from northern Syria. (ANI)