Turkey faces US sanctions after assault on Syria Kurds

TURKEY on Wednesday faced the threat of US “sanctions from hell” as its assault on Syrian Kurdish forces set off a crisis with its NATO ally, although it might still be able to count on a sympathetic Donald Trump.

Turkey pounded Syria with jets and artillery and sent in troops three days after Trump told his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would withdraw US troops effectively serving as a buffer.

While Trump has long sought to extricate the United States from Syria’s civil war, his decision triggered furious criticism from US lawmakers hoping to protect the Kurdish forces, who led the fight against the Islamic State group in the country.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would freeze all US assets of Turkey’s leadership, including Erdogan, and impose sanctions on entities that do business with Turkey’s military until Ankara withdraws from Syria.

Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator who is usually a steadfast supporter of Trump, had warned Turkey of “sanctions from hell” if it went ahead with the invasion.

“Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration. This move ensures the reemergence of ISIS,” Graham wrote on Twitter, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Faced with harsh rebukes, the mogulturned-president -- already under pressure in an impeachment inquiry -has sent mixed messages and threatened at the White House Wednesday to “wipe out” Turkey’s economy if Ankara’s assault was not carried out “in as humane a way as possible.”