Fury at plan to pull US forces from Syria
Republicans as well as Democrats fear ‘betrayal’ of Kurds by president will stain America’s name
Donald Trump’s announcement that the US would withdraw its forces from Syria ahead of a Turkish offensive against Kurds who fought with America in the war against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) brought condemnation from his allies last night. Mr Trump apparently decided on the move without consulting his own intelligence services and was warned it could prove one of the most reckless decisions of his presidency.
DONALD TRUMP defended himself in a series of tweets yesterday as critics deplored his decision to pull forces out of Syria before a Turkish offensive against the Kurds, his allies against Isil. The president declared: “I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars.”
Mr Trump apparently decided to abandon his allies without consulting his own intelligence services and was warned it could prove one of the most reckless moves of his presidency.
Key Republicans in Congress appeared taken aback by the sudden withdrawal, which they called a “betrayal” that could stain America’s name.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Republican ally of Mr Trump, said the move was a “disaster in the making”, warning that Congress could impose economic sanctions on Turkey and threaten its Nato membership if Ankara invaded Syria.
Nikki Haley, Mr Trump’s former ambassador to the UN, said: “Leaving [the Kurds] to die would be a big mistake.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, a key Trump ally, said: “A precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime.”
Mr Trump issued a series of breathless tweets, referring to conflicts “where our great military functions as a policing operation to the benefit of people who don’t even like the USA”. He later added that “if Turkey does anything that I, in my unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey”.
Yesterday, Kurdish leaders said their ability to guard thousands of Isil prisoners would be badly damaged by preparations for the Turkish invasion.
“We are forced to pull out some of our troops from the prisons and from the camps to the border to protect our people,” Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. The SDF has been holding some 10,000 male Isil suspects, including an estimated 10 Britons, in prisons across north-eastern Syria, many of which fall inside Turkey’s proposed 18-mile deep, 300-milelong buffer zone.
The White House statement announcing the news was released shortly after a phone call between Mr Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, on Sunday night.
Mr Erdoğan had reportedly assured the US president that Ankara would take over the detention of Isil militants
‘I want to make sure we keep our word for those who fight with us and help us’
captured by the SDF. “The US will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the taxpayer,” a White House statement said on Sunday. “Turkey will now be responsible for all Isil fighters in the area captured over the past two years.”
Coalition sources said the chance of a smooth handover from Kurdish to Turkish control was “virtually impossible”, leaving the prospect of prisoners breaking free in the chaos. Western diplomats told The Daily
Telegraph they had not been told that European governments were rethinking their strategy on suspects held in Syria. The US had for months been working with Turkey to try to create a “safe zone” along its border with northern Syria between the Turkish military and Kurdish forces, which Ankara sees as terrorists.
Turkey has repeatedly criticised its slow implementation and threatened a unilateral assault. US Republican and Democrats had warned such an offensive on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which lost 11,000 troops in the battle against Isil, could lead to a massacre of Kurds. Turkey claims its planned “safe zone” is to purge the border of YPG forces, which it sees as a terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
♦ A federal judge said Mr Trump must hand over eight years of tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, forcefully rejecting his argument that he was immune from criminal investigations. Mr Trump quickly filed an emergency appeal to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, which temporarily blocked the district attorney from enforcing the subpoena, citing the “unique issues” in the case.