Trump hails shaky ceasefire
United States President Donald Trump has punched back at criticism that his Syria withdrawal is damaging America’s credibility, betraying Kurdish allies and opening the door for a possible resurgence of Islamic State.
Trump yesterday touted a ceasefire agreement that seemed at risk as Turkey and Kurdish fighters differed over what it required and whether combat had halted.
‘‘We’ve had tremendous success, I think, over the last couple of days,’’ Trump declared. He added that ‘‘we’ve taken control of the oil in the Middle East’’ – a claim that seemed disconnected from any known development there.
Calling his Syria approach ‘‘a little bit unconventional’’, the president contended that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as the Syrian Kurdish fighters the Turks are battling agreed that the USbrokered ceasefire was the right step and were complying with it. ‘‘There is good will on both sides & a really good chance for success,’’ he wrote on Twitter.
That optimism seemed at odds with Erdogan’s own words. He said Turkish forces would resume their offensive in four days unless Kurdish-led fighters withdrew ‘‘without exception’’ from a so-called safe zone 30 kilometres deep, running the entire 440km length of the border with Turkey.
There was no sign of any pullout by the Kurdish-led forces, who accused Turkey of violating the ceasefire with continued fighting at a key border town. They also said the accord covered a much smaller section of the border.
Some fighters have vowed not to withdraw at all, dismissing the deal as a betrayal by the US, whose soldiers they have fought alongside against Isis.
Eric Edelman, a former US ambassador to Turkey who served as the Pentagon’s top policy official during the George W Bush administration, said he doubted that Turkey and its Syrian proxies could control the entire border area from the Euphrates River to Iraq without help from Russia or others.
Even so, Trump insisted that peace was at hand. He also asserted that some European nations were now willing to take responsibility for detained Isis fighters from their countries. ‘‘Anyway, big progress being made !!!! ’’ he exclaimed on Twitter.
At the Pentagon, Defence Secretary Mark Esper said US troops were continuing their withdrawal from northern Syria. He also said no US troops would participate in enforcing or monitoring the ceasefire.
Officials have said a number of Isis fighters, just over 100, have escaped from custody in Syria since Turkey launched its invasion last week. There are 11 prisons with Isis inmates in the so-called safe zone between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn.
Accounting for the broader border area that the Turks contend is the safe zone – that number grows to 16 prisons. It’s unclear exactly how many of those are currently under Turkish control – but as they push the Kurds out, the Turks are supposed to take control of the prisons.
Trump has been widely criticised for turning his back on the Kurds. Even some Republicans are taking aim.
‘‘Withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria is a grave strategic mistake. It will leave the American people and homeland less safe, embolden our enemies, and weaken important alliances,’’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote yesterday in a Washington Post opinion column.
Erdogan said he and Trump shared ‘‘love and respect’’, but he also left little doubt that he was offended by an October 9 letter from Trump to Erdogan telling him, ‘‘Don’t be a fool!’’.
Criticism mounted for a deal that Trump called ‘‘a great day for civilisation’’.
European Council President Donald Tusk said it was ‘‘not a ceasefire, it is a demand for the capitulation of the Kurds’’, and called on Turkey to immediately halt its operation. French President Emmanuel Macron called the Turkish invasion ‘‘madness’’.
The US pullout from northeastern Syria has positioned Russia as the main power broker there.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Rojava Information Centre said fighting was continuing as Turkish-backed Syrian fighters clashed with Kurdish forces in villages on the outskirts of Ras al-Ayn. Other activists reported a new exodus of civilians from the villages.
The Kurds were US allies in the fight against Isis State since 2014, but Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters terrorists because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels who have been fighting inside Turkey since the 1980s.