Withdrawal of US troops clears way for Turkish assault on Kurds in Syria
AMERICA was today withdrawing troops from north-eastern Syria after the White House gave Turkey the green light to launch an assault on Kurdish forces who fought alongside the US against Islamic State.
In a surprise statement, Donald Trump’s spokeswoman said US forces would move aside and clear the way for a Turkish military operation.
The move has raised concerns over the fate of Kurdish YPG fighters who were allies of the US in the lengthy battle to defeat IS. Turkey has long threatened to launch an operation against the Kurdish militia it views as terrorists near its border in Syria.
US troops “will not support or be involved in the operation” and “will no longer be in the immediate area”, White Ho u s e p re s s s e c re t a r y S te p h a n i e Grisham said in the statement, which was silent on the fate of the Kurds.
“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into northern Syria,” the statement added.
Th e Whi te Ho u s e a l s o s a i d that Turkey would take over all responsibility for IS fighters captured over the past two years.
There are about 1,000 US troops in northern Syria, and a senior US official said they will pull back from the area — and potentially l e ave the country entirely should fighting break out between Turkish and Kurdish forces. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan today confirmed American troops had started withdrawing from positions in northern Syria.
It followed a call between him and Mr Trump, the White House said, and came a day after Mr Erdogan issued his strongest warning yet that he would launch a unilateral military operation in north-eastern Syria.
“We have given all kinds of warning regarding the [area] east of the Euphrates to the relevant parties. We have acted with enough patience,” he said.
The Turkish military has been dispatching units and defence equipment to its border with the area.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) threatened to respond forcefully to any Turkish incursion.
“We will not hesitate to turn any unprovoked attack by Turkey into an all-out war on the entire border to DEFEND ourselves and our people,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted on Saturday.
The YPG was a major part of the SDF, the US-supported force that defeated IS in Syria.
America today informed the commander of the SDF in Syria that its forces would not defend them from Turkish attacks anywhere, an official reportedly told Reuters.
In December, Mr Trump announced he was withdrawing American troops from Syria but was met with widespread condemnation for abandoning Kurdish allies to the Turkish assault.
The following month, he threatened to “devastate Turkey economically” if it attacked Kurdish forces.
We will not hesitate to turn any unprovoked attack by Turkey into an all-out war on the entire border
Mustafa Bali of Kurdish-led SDF