Trump gives green light to Turkey to take over Syria
Graham: This is a disaster in the making
The US decision to withdraw from northeastern Syria could open the way for a Turkish strike on Kurdish-led forces long allied with Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers said on Monday.
The United States began pulling troops back from the northeast Syria border on Monday, in a move US President Donald Trump hailed as a bid to quit “endless wars.” The move appeared to leave allies scrambling to assess the impact.
Following the backlash, Trump tweeted: “If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off-limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).”
“They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families,” the president said. “The US has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!”
Earlier on Monday, Trump tweeted that the US “will fight where it is our benefit, and only to fight to win.”
“The Kurds fought with us,” the president tweeted, “but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for almost three years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home.”
The White House statement declaring the withdrawal came after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Trump discussed in a phone call Turkey’s plans to establish a “safe zone” east of the Euphrates River in Syria. For four years, the US and mostly Kurdish fighters have fought and defeated Islamic State in northeast Syria.
The White House decision will effectively displace the partner forces the US had been working with. For more than a year and a half, Trump has been seeking to leave Syria. In the midst of the impeachment crisis, he has now made the decision to sacrifice US allies in the war on ISIS as opposed to pressuring Ankara with diplomatic means.
“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria,” the White House press secretary said in a statement. “The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”
The US says it is not responsible for holding ISIS detainees at the expense of American taxpayers.
“Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years, in the wake of the defeat of the territorial ‘caliphate’ by the United States,” the statement read.
Trump’s decision drew sharp criticism from political allies and rivals alike, some of whom said they would promote bipartisan sanctions in Congress against Turkey.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of the president, tweeted that if press reports about the move are accurate, “This is a disaster in the making.”
“If this plan goes forward,”
Graham added, “[I] will introduce Senate resolution opposing and asking for reversal of this decision. Expect it will receive strong bipartisan support.”
In a later interview with Fox News, he called Trump’s decision “impulsive,” and added that it is a big win for Iran, Assad and ISIS.
“This to me is just unnerving to its core,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said he agrees with Graham.
“I’m working with Lindsey Graham to make sure Turkey knows that Congress will not abandon our key allies in the war against ISIS and stand by while US foreign policy is outsourced to Russia, Iran and Turkey,” he tweeted.
The two said they would introduce bipartisan sanctions against Turkey “if they invade Syria, and will call for their suspension from NATO if they attack Kurdish forces who assisted the US in the destruction of the ISIS Caliphate.”
Israel has “great challenges around us,” and its cooperation with Russia is “critical,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, a day after Trump’s announcement.
In Israel, neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Foreign Ministry had any response to Trump’s move.
Netanyahu made his comments at a Rosh Hashanah toast with staff in his office, during which he relayed that he just had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu phoned Putin to wish him a happy 67th birthday.
“I met with him a few weeks ago about issues that are important for the security of the State of Israel, and this conversation as well was important to Israel’s security,” he said.
Though he did not provide details, the Netanyahu-Putin conversation is believed to have dealt with the changing dynamics in Syria resulting from the White House’s dramatic announcement on Sunday.
“We have great challenges around us, but we enjoy important cooperation and coordination with Russia, something that is critical for us, and which we will continue to deal with,” he said.
Netanyahu last met Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi five days before the September 17 election. This was their 13th meeting since September 2015, when Russia became militarily involved in Syria, and the two countries set up a deconfliction mechanism to prevent their armed forces from clashing.
While the PMO and Foreign Ministry did not relate to Trump’s move, Blue and White’s Yair Lapid – who, if his party is part of the next government, would be a leading candidate for foreign minister – issued a statement saying that the world “has a moral responsibility to the Kurds who led the fight against ISIS and paid with their blood.”
Lapid said that he joins the calls of US senators Graham and Van Hollen to impose sanctions of Turkey and suspend it from NATO in response to attacks on the Kurds in northern Syria. He also encouraged Trump to make “the cost of any such attack absolutely clear to Erdogan.”
Former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley tweeted a similar message.
“We must always have the backs of our allies if we expect them to have our back,” she wrote. “The Kurds were instrumental in our successful fight against ISIS in Syria. Leaving them to die is a big mistake.”
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said that if reports about the US retreat in Syria are accurate, “The Trump administration has made a grave mistake that will have implications far beyond Syria. It would confirm Iran’s view of this administration and embolden them to escalate hostile attacks, which in turn could trigger much broader and more dangerous regional war,” he said.
Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based nonpartisan policy institute, told The Jerusalem Post that withdrawing from Syria would be a mistake.
“America is developing a reputation over two administrations of abandoning allies,” he said. “The Kurds fought and died to defeat ISIS and save American lives. And Washington abandoned them to appease Turkish President Recep Erdogan, an anti-American authoritarian. IRGC Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani once said that America always abandons its friends. The US shouldn’t be in the business of proving him correct. Trump’s decision demonstrates that Israel must never assume that Washington’s support is eternal.”
Rep. Liz Cheney released a statement calling Trump’s decision “a catastrophic mistake that puts our gains against ISIS at risk, and threatens America’s national security.”
Rep. Ted Deutch voiced a similar message, calling the move “reckless and dangerous decision to abandon SDF.”
He tweeted that the Kurds “have been critical US partners and most effective in the fight against ISIS. Again, POTUS makes a major policy decision after phone call with foreign leader that ignores the advice of our own military leaders and facts on ground. Erdogan only cares about Turkish interests here. Why is POTUS deferring? Does he not understand long-term risks to US security?”
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel said that withdrawing from Syria is “a gift” to Russia, Iran and ISIS, “and a staggering betrayal of the Kurdish forces who have been America’s good and faithful partners.”
Reuters contributed to this report. •