Breaking with President Trump over the issue, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday joined Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in announcing a bipartisan push for sanctions against the leaders and military of Turkey – a NATO ally – until it halts a unilateral military operation in northeastern Syria and withdraws its forces.
Not long after the defeat of the Islamic State in the area, Syrian Christians warn that US military withdrawal from the Kurdish-controlled region, announced yesterday by President Donald Trump, will expose them to danger.
EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday demanded Turkey halt its military operation against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, telling Ankara a political solution was the only way to end the Syrian conflict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his invasion into northeast Syria has begun. A spokesman for the Kurdish fighters said Turkish warplanes have started attacking the region.
Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria on Wednesday just days after U.S. troops pulled back from the area, with air strikes and artillery hitting YPG militia positions around the border town of Ras al Ain.
Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in a phone call that Tehran is opposed to military action in Syria, the foreign ministry said.
World leaders were “preparing for the worst” Monday as Turkey moved quickly toward a sweeping military offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria after President Trump’s surprise announcement that he would pull American forces out of a crucial buffer zone along the border between the two nations.
For months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to send troops into neighboring Syria. Then, on Saturday, he announced he would deliver on his promise and send Turkish air and ground forces into the country. Erdogan plans to create a “safe zone” along the Turkish-Syrian border. The purpose of this is to push back the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are led by the predominantly Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Ankara considers the Kurdish militia a threat to its national security.
ISIS fighters and other terrorists comprising the more than 10,000 Islamic militants jailed in northeast Syria could launch a mass prison break as U.S. troops withdraw from the region in response to Turkey’s impending incursion, Syrian Kurdish fighters warned Monday.
The White House announced late Sunday that Turkey will soon move forward with its planned military operation in northeast Syria in an area where U.S. troops have been deployed and operating with Kurdish-led forces.
The White House said Sunday that US forces in northeast Syria will move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish assault, essentially abandoning Kurdish fighters who fought alongside American forces in the years-long battle to defeat Islamic State militants.
A large-scale Turkish invasion of northern Syria appears to be imminent after the deadline to jointly establish a ‘safe zone’ in the region with the United States by the end of September passed without a resolution between the two countries.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Saturday demanded an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. and Turkish troops from his country and warned that Syrian government forces had the right to take countermeasures if they refused.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it was impossible for Turkey to stop buying oil and natural gas from Iran, despite the threat of U.S. sanctions, and added that trade between the two countries would continue, according to broadcaster NTV.
The leaders of Turkey, Russia, and Iran meeting in Ankara on Monday agreed to try to ease tensions in northwest Syria’s Idlib region, but disagreements between the countries appeared to linger, especially over the threat from Islamic State.
Turkey’s defense ministry said on Sunday that the delivery of a second battery of Russian S-400 missile defense systems has been completed as of Sunday, and added that the systems would become active in April 2020.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to annex the Jordan Valley if he is re-elected next week has angered proponents of the two-state solution.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Tuesday with a delegation of American evangelical Christians in the Red Sea city of Jiddah as the kingdom works to forge closer ties with an influential electoral base in the U.S. that could be crucial to the 2020 elections.
President Vladimir Putin showed off Russia’s latest stealth warplane to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who’s been barred from buying a new U.S. fighter jet in a dispute with Donald Trump over the purchase of a Russian missile system.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Tuesday to protest what he says is a violation of a 2017 de-escalation agreement by Syria.