TRUMP’S REBUKE: In his phone call yesterday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Trump warned the NATO ally to back off in northern Syria, where the Turkish military is conducting an offensive against Kurdish fighters backed by the U.S. The official White House readout, usually an anodyne account that downplays differences, was unusually blunt, including a statement that Trump “expressed concern about destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey.”
The White House version said Trump warned Erdogan to pull back in the Afrin border region, or risk undercutting the shared goal of achieving a lasting defeat of the Islamic State in Syria. “He urged Turkey to deescalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees. He urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces,” the statement said.
