This archive report was first published on 7 October 2019.
Trump Endorses Turkish Military Operation in Syria ¶
On Sunday, October 6, 2019, President Trump gave his endorsement for a Turkish military operation in Syria, shifting U.S. policy and potentially jeopardizing counterterrorism gains against the Islamic State.
The operation, which would sweep away American-backed Kurdish forces near the border in Syria, has been a long-planned move by Turkey, which considers the Kurdish fighters to be a terrorist insurgency.
However, the Kurdish group, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or S.D.F., has been the United States' most reliable partner in fighting the Islamic State in a strategic corner of northern Syria.
Administration officials said that Mr. Trump spoke directly with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on the issue on Sunday, and that the 100 to 150 United States military personnel deployed to that area would be pulled back in advance of any Turkish operation.
“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria,” the White House said in a statement released just before 11 p.m. in Washington. “The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”
The decision goes against the recommendations of top officials in the Pentagon and the State Department, who have sought to keep a small troop presence in northeast Syria to continue counterinsurgency operations against the Islamic State, or ISIS, and to act as a critical counterweight to Iran and Russia.
It was unclear how extensive the Turkish operation would be, or whether Turkish forces would clash with the American-backed Kurds, a development that could jeopardize many of the counterterrorism gains achieved by the American military in the fight against ISIS.
