Kurdish fighters in north-western Syria say they have struck a deal with the Syrian government under which it will send troops to help repel a Turkish offensive.
The Syrian government in Damascus has offered no confirmation.
Turkey regards the Kurdish fighters, just across its border in Afrin, as terrorists. It launched a major offensive against them last month.
There is currently no Syrian military presence in the area.
A senior Kurdish official, Badran Jia Kurd, told Reuters that government soldiers could enter the Afrin region within days and that they would deploy to some border positions.
The alleged agreement was also reported by Iraqi Kurdish media group Rudaw, which quoted a Kurdish politician from Syria, and a news agency which backs Syrian Kurdish forces.
If the deal has really been struck, Turkish troops could find themselves confronting not only Kurdish fighters in Afrin, but the Syrian army too, says BBC World Service Middle East editor Alan Johnston.
The abridged back story
How historical Afrin became a prize worth a war
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers withdrew from northern Kurdish areas in 2012.
The Kurds of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - the dominant Kurdish party - then quickly took charge, backed by its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG).
The YPG cleared Islamic State (IS) group fighters from wide swathes of Syria.
Turkey is trying to oust the YPG from Afrin because it sees the group as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.
The YPG denies any direct military or political links with the PKK.
source: www.bbc.com
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