President Trump vowed Sunday to unleash economic destruction on Turkey should its military forces target Kurdish allies when U.S. troops completely withdraw from Syria.
“Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions. Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone,” Trump tweeted. “Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey. Russia, Iran and Syria have been the biggest beneficiaries of the long term U.S. policy of destroying ISIS in Syria – natural enemies. We also benefit but it is now time to bring our troops back home. Stop the ENDLESS WARS!”
Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions. Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2019
….Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey. Russia, Iran and Syria have been the biggest beneficiaries of the long term U.S. policy of destroying ISIS in Syria – natural enemies. We also benefit but it is now time to bring our troops back home. Stop the ENDLESS WARS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2019
Trump’s tweets come after the U.S. drawdown in Syria officially began last week in response to the president’s abrupt order in December. Trump’s demand drew swift bipartisan backlash from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and prompted former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to resign in protest. None of the 2,200 troops have left the war-torn region yet though, a Pentagon official told the Washington Examiner on Friday.
Trump has backed off his initial call for a swift U.S. exit — as evidenced by national security adviser John Bolton saying last weekend that American forces would remain in Syria until the Islamic State’s remnants are destroyed and a pullout would be incumbent on Turkey offering assurances it would not harm Kurdish allies of the U.S. operating in the area. Turkish officials consider Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, to be terrorists who have contributed to political instability within their own borders.
Bolton’s conditions were not welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he liaised during a recent trip to Israel and Turkey to quell concerns over the change in U.S. policy related to Syria.
“Bolton has made a serious mistake and whoever thinks like this has also made a mistake,” Erdogan told his nation’s parliamentarians last week, according to Hurriyet Daily News. “It is not possible for us to make compromises on this point.”
“Very soon, we will act on neutralizing terrorist groups in Syria, and we will take out other terror groups that might try to prevent us from doing this,” he said. “For Turkey, there is no difference between the PKK, YPG, PYD or [ISIS].”
