WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Pentagon said Sunday President
Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern
Syria — almost the entire ground force in the war-torn country — amid an
intensifying Turkish assault on Kurdish forces.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the move came after the US learned that
Turkey was pressing further into Syria than expected.
The Kurds — with whom the US partnered to combat the Islamic State (IS)
group — later announced they had reached a deal with the regime in Damascus
to deploy Syrian troops near the border to confront the Turkish offensive.
“We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing
armies and it’s a very untenable situation,” Esper told CBS’s “Face the
Nation.”
“So I spoke with the president last night after discussions with the rest
of the national security team and he directed that we begin a deliberate
withdrawal of forces from northern Syria.”
Esper said he was unable to provide a timeline because of the changing
situation on the ground, but added that the withdrawal would be carried out
in a “very safe, deliberate manner.”
“It’s a very terrible situation over there, a situation caused by the
Turks… Despite our opposition they decided to make this incursion into
Syria,” Esper told CBS.
“And at this point in time in the last 24 hours we learned that they likely
intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned and to
the west.”
– Bipartisan firestorm –
Esper also pointed to a possible deal — confirmed later Sunday by the
Kurdish administration in northern Syria — on a Syrian troop deployment near
the border with Turkey to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
confront Ankara’s offensive.
The US withdrawal announcement came after its troops came under artillery
fire Friday which the Pentagon said was from Turkish positions.
Asked if troops would be leaving the country altogether, Esper clarified
that the withdrawal was just from northern Syria, “which is where most of our
forces are.”
Fighting raged Sunday along the border on the fifth day of an offensive
that has provoked an international outcry and left dozens of civilians and
fighters dead.
Ankara launched the long-threatened offensive against the SDF, which it
considers “terrorists” linked to insurgents inside Turkey, after Trump
ordered special forces serving as a trip wire against Turkish action to pull
back from the border.
The withdrawal provoked a bipartisan firestorm of criticism in the US and
accusations that Trump was abandoning a loyal ally in the fight against IS
militants.
– ‘Derelict in his duty’ –
“The president is simply derelict in his duty as president. He is making
Americans much less safe, he is undoing years of work to curb (IS),” top
Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a statement on Sunday.
“He is making America more susceptible to terrorism by his actions.”
Trump hit back, describing the US withdrawal as “very smart.”
“The Kurds and Turkey have been fighting for many years… Others may want
to come in and fight for one side or the other. Let them! We are monitoring
the situation closely. Endless Wars!” he said.
Hundreds of relatives of foreign jihadists have escaped from a displacement
camp in northern Syria, Kurdish authorities said Sunday, as the number of
people fleeing the Turkish assault soared to 130,000.
Ankara’s offensive sparked fears that thousands of IS fighters held by
Syrian Kurdish forces could break free.
Trump tweeted on Sunday that “the U.S. has the worst of the ISIS
prisoners,” using an acronym for IS, but added: “Turkey and the Kurds must
not let them escape.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that Trump had
authorized — but not yet activated — new sanctions to dissuade Turkey from
further offensive military action.
“We can shut down all US dollar transactions with the entire government of
Turkey,” Mnuchin told ABC on Sunday.
“It’s something we may do. There’s full authority and something at a
moment’s notice the president can tell me to do.”