Norway, a member of NATO, on Thursday suspended all new arms exports to Turkey on the second day of a Turkish military incursion into Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria, AFP reports.

President Donald Trump withdrew US troops from the northern border area allowing Turkey to launch an offensive on Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued that he wants a safe zone free of Kurdish rebels in which it can be able to repatriate millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

The European Union was warned that the other available option if it disagreed with Turkey's action was to allow the refugees to head to its coast.

Kurdish-led forces, key allies of the US in the region, said they will resist the offensive and have already confronted Turkish troops.

Syrian Kurdish forces have been instrumental in the war to eradicate the Islamic State group and the “caliphate” it had established in the region.

Thousands of civilians have fled from air strikes and shelling which has increased alarm of a potential humanitarian crisis.

More than 60,000 people had been displaced in less than 24 hours, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.