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THE US HAS slapped sanctions on Turkey as it demanded an end to the deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters, accusing its NATO partner of putting civilians at risk and allowing the release of Islamic State extremists.
The actions came hours after Syrian regime troops returned for the first time in years to northeastern parts of the country, invited by Kurdish fighters desperate for protection as the United States pulls out.
President Donald Trump took extraordinary measures against a country that is officially a US ally as he faces mounting criticism at home, where even usually supportive lawmakers accuse him of abandoning Kurds who had spearheaded the fight against the Islamic State group.
“I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path,” Trump, who until recently had touted his friendship with Erdogan, said in a statement.
In a series of tweets, Trump again defended pulling out the area and said that “Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte” could help protect them.
The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on Turkey’s defense, interior and energy ministers, freezing their US assets and making US transactions with them a crime.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticised the sanctions on Twitter, writing they “fall very short of reversing the humanitarian disaster brought about by (Trump’s) own erratic decision-making.”
Vice President Mike Pence said he would travel shortly to Turkey and that Trump had telephoned Erdogan on Tuesday to insist that Turkey end the operation.
Trump said he was also ending talks on a US-Turkey trade deal he valued at $100 billion and, in perhaps the most biting reprisal, re-imposing tariffs of 50 percent of Turkish steel.
The United States had slapped the 50% sanctions on Turkey last year to win the release of an evangelical pastor whose detention had stirred up Trump’s base.
Signaling an escalating rift in relations, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he would head next week to Brussels to ask NATO allies to punish Turkey over the incursion.
NATO has long been seen as keeping Turkey in the Western orbit, but Erdogan angered the United States earlier this year by buying the major S-400 missile defense system from Russia.
Concerns over jihadists
Erdogan has vowed to crush the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which he links to separatist militants inside Turkey.
Turkey wants to create a roughly 30 km buffer zone along its border to keep Kurdish forces at bay and also to send back some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees on its soil.
The chaos in areas targeted in the six-day-old Turkish assault has already led to the escape of around 800 foreign women and children linked to IS from a Kurdish-run camp, according to Kurdish authorities.
The Kurds had repeatedly warned of that exact scenario when Western countries refused to repatriate their IS-linked nationals and when Trump made it clear he wanted to end the US military presence.
Esper said Turkey’s incursion had “resulted in the release of many dangerous ISIS detainees,” although Erdogan accused Kurdish forces of deliberately freeing jihadists to “fuel chaos.”
Trump also mused that the Kurds may be releasing prisoners to keep the United States engaged and staunchly defended withdrawing troops.
“Some people want the United States to protect the 7,000 mile away Border of Syria, presided over by Bashar al-Assad, our enemy. At the same time, Syria and whoever they chose to help, wants naturally to protect the Kurd .and Assad to protect the land of our enemy?,” he tweeted.
Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte. I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!
The United States said it is withdrawing all 1,000 troops from northeastern Syria, keeping in the country only roughly 150 troops in the southern base of Al Tanf near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.
Filling void
Wasting no time to fill the void, Russia — the top broker in Syria — clinched a deal between the Kurds and Damascus. The two sides had frosty ties since the minority group threw its lot in with Washington and unilaterally declared self-rule as the regime fought rebels elsewhere.
From early Monday, Syrian regime forces were moving within several kilometers (miles) of the border, AFP correspondents reported.
Residents around the town of Tal Tamr welcomed them with cheers and Syrian state television showed some waving national flags and portraits of Assad.
Erdogan had said he expected Kurdish forces to withdraw from Manbij, some 30 kilometers from the border, with the arrival of the regime.
“When Manbij is evacuated, we will not go in there as Turkey. Our Arab brothers, who are the real owners, the tribes… will return there,” he said.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, the Turkish attack has already left 133 fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and 69 civilians dead.
The United Nations says 160,000 people have been displaced.
On the Turkish side, four soldiers and 18 civilians have been killed in six days, either in fighting or from Kurdish cross-border fire, according to Turkish sources.
The Observatory has put the number of pro-Turkish Syrian forces killed at 108.
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Frightening to hear the reports that Trump made his decision to pull US soldiers out after a phone call from Erdogan, without his Defense Secretary being aware of Trump’s decision. That a US President can do this (regardless of being Trump or someone else -hopefully from 2020 onwards) shows a serious lack of accountability, responsibility, intelligence and ethics.
@David A. Murray: your last sentence could apply to almost everything he has done over the last 2.5 years. Sums him up perfectly.
@David A. Murray: It’s more frightening that he didn’t understand it would be a problem. He hasn’t learned anything over his the last two and half years.
@David A. Murray: As I understand it, the US Congress has pretty much washed its hands of war powers over the decades, so the President can mobilise or withdraw troops at will.
@Lisa Saputo: or the last 72
Gee Bag
@MarkS: A grave insult to Geebags.
This has created a major opportunity for Russia, which has been calling for the US to withdraw from the area for years. It’s almost like he wants to help Russia.
@Wade Wilson: Help them into the Middle Eastern quagmire?
@Wade Wilson: Trump wanting time help Russia? Now there’s a thought.
He’s totally thick.
couldn’t care less about the Kurds , trying to control the news cycle
Napoleon had a complex. Trump has an orange complexion…and a complex.
@Kieran Stafford: and Trump is showing signs of dementia , look at his weird decisions since he got in the White House
@Gus Sheridan: why had Napoleon dementia?
@Kieran Stafford: toxic wallpaper laced with cyanide in his house while in custody?
This is Soo Spitting Image …
I dread to think about the innumerable Hollywood movies that we are going to be swamped with once this whole sorry era has run its course.
Seems “destroy and obliterate” are two more words Trumpy doesn’t know the meaning.
That the vote came down to one between this oaf and the clinton woman is beyond bizarre imo. But Muricans flagellate themselves in the hope that the mythical dream will eventually come knocking on their door.
Send in irish army to save kurds that scare the turks
Trump is pure evil and the so called Christians can’t see that???
@TamuMassif2019: Sure and I suppose ABC news showing video of US soldiers watching explosions going off at night on a US Army artillery range in America and passing it off as Turkish soldiers watching on and cheering as Kurdish civilians were being bombed is just fine. The same video has been on YouTube for months.
Then we have the CNN Whistleblower hidden camera video released last night. You should look it up and watch them admit how they manipulate everything Trump and that the organisation from CEO Jeff Zucker down have a vendetta against Trump. They boasted about creating the “Trump Monster”. ABC News clearly do the same and you can be sure all the others do too including our good old RTE News. When all you ever hear about is one sided propaganda, it’s no surprise you believe it.
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