Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's communications director said that U.S. President Donald Trump, in a Sunday phone call which appeared to pave the way for Turkey's offensive, agreed "to transfer the leadership of the counter-Islamic State campaign to Turkey".
Ankara insists, despite international fears to the contrary, that there will be no let-up in the campaign.
"Every aspect of Daesh - countering Daesh terrorism, dealing with prisoners, and women and children - Turkey will do it best like it has before and will do it in Syria too," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
Cavusoglu said it was not clear how many Daesh were in the zone targeted by Turkey's operation, estimating around 1,000 were held in prisons "and they say there are another thousand in camps," he said without elaborating.
"If those camps or prisons are in the safe zone, we are responsible. I'm not responsible for Daesh camps in the south of Syria," he told a group of journalists including Reuters in Ankara on Thursday.
"The U.S. and others made it clear they will be staying in the southern part...," he said. "So it will under the Americans' responsibility."
