THE PREZ TALKS TURKEY
Tells Erdogan to cease fire in Syria
President Trump personally asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cease fire in Syria on Monday — as he ordered harsh economic sanctions on Turkey for its assault against Kurdish fighters.
“President Trump communicated to [Erdogan] very clearly that the United States of America wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence,” Vice President Mike Pence told reporters Monday of the conversation.
Pence also revealed he’ll soon travel to Turkey in a bid to jump-start negotiations to end the offensive — which began last Wednesday after Trump removed US troops from northern Syria, making way for Turkish forces.
Later on Monday, Trump signed an executive order slapping sanctions on Turkey, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“If Turkey’s operation continues, it will exacerbate a growing and daunting humanitarian crisis, with potentially disastrous consequences. To avoid suffering further sanctions imposed under this new Executive Order Turkey must immediately cease its unilateral offensive in northeast Syria and return to a dialogue with the United States on security in northeast Syria,” Pompeo said in a statement issued Monday evening.
The order lets the departments of state and the treasury impose sanctions on individuals, entities, or associates of the Turkish government and notes “Three senior Turkish officials, the Ministry of Energy, and the Ministry of Defense have been designated for sanctions.”
Earlier Monday, Trump said the penalties could target Turkish steel while halting negotiations with the NATO ally over what Trump called a $100 billion trade deal.
He also said the 1,000 US troops leaving Syria would remain elsewhere in the region to help prevent the resurgence of ISIS. It was unclear exactly where they would be based.
A small contingent of US troops will also remain at a military base in southern Syria to fight ISIS, he said.
Trump also downplayed reports that hundreds of ISIS supporters had escaped a Kurdish-run detainment camp in Syria, suggesting the Kurds might be releasing the detainees to lure US troops back.
Meanwhile, Russian-backed Syrian
troops moved deep inside Kurdish territory south of the Turkish border on Monday, less than 24 hours after the US announced a full withdrawal from the region.
Kurdish forces, who have been US allies in the fight against ISIS, said they had invited the Syrian government troops to help fend off Turkey’s assault.
“After the Americans abandoned the region and gave the green light for the Turkish attack, we were forced to explore another option, which is talks with Damascus and Moscow to find a way out and thwart these Turkish attacks,” said senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd.
The Syrian army deployment gives Syrian President Bashar alAssad and his ally Russia a foothold in the largest remaining part of Syria that had been beyond their grasp while under Kurdish control.
They will now face Turkish armed forces along a new front line hundreds of miles long.
Syrian state media reported that army troops had already entered Tel Tamer, a town on the strategically important M4 highway that runs east-west around 18 miles south of the frontier with Turkey.
State television later showed residents welcoming Syrian forces into Ain Issa, another town on the highway, hundreds of miles away.
Ain Issa commands the northern approaches to Raqqa, former capital of the ISIS “caliphate,” which Kurdish fighters recaptured two years ago in one of the biggest victories of the US-led campaign.
An official of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said clashes were ongoing.
Washington announced on Sunday that it was pulling out its entire force of about 1,000 troops from northern Syria. The troops had provided air support, ground assistance and training for Syrian Kurds against ISIS since 2014.
US troops consolidated their positions in northern Syria and prepared to evacuate equipment ahead of a full withdrawal as Turkish forces pressed an offensive against the Kurds, a US defense official said.
Two US officials have told Reuters that the bulk of the US pullout could be completed within days.