WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

A lot hinges on whether Erdogan goes ahead with his threat to expand mili- tary operations eastward, toward the town of Manbij and other areas east of the Euphrates River controlled by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurd- ish forces, and where U.S. bases are also housed.

While the U.S. was able to distance itself from the fighting in Afrin, it can’t sit by silently if Turkey expands the fight to Manbij. Kurdish guerrilla-type attacks against Turkey and its Syrian allies could also jeopardize the U.S.-led mission to stabilize areas that have been captured from IS.

President Bashar Assad’s response is also an open question.

He has condemned Turk- ish “occupation” of parts of northern Syria and vowed to eventually recapture the region.

Another major question is whether the takeover would lead to ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish majority there. Images that emerged Sunday following Afrin’s take- over bode ill for the future of the ethnically-mixed region. Afrin residents reported widespread looting and pil- laging soon after Turkish troops and allied Syrian fight- ers marched into the town center Sunday.

Turkey, along with its Syrian allies, already controls large chunks of territory east of Afrin. But its presence there was more accepted than in Afrin because it chased IS militants from those areas.