Syria crisis: Trump orders sanctions against Turkey but also accuses Kurds of releasing IS terrorists to lure US troops back
President Donald Trump on Monday, October 14, announced sanctions on Turkey aiming to curb its continuing assault against the Kurds and civilians in embattled Syria that started after the American president hastily decided to pull out his country's troops from the Middle-Eastern country on October 6.
While the world was apprehending the after-effects of the US's withdrawal from Syria, Trump threatened to "obliterate" Turkey's economy if it went off-limits in Syria.
However, Ankara cared little about the warning and went ahead with the offensive, prompting Washington to take the latest step.
Mike Pence and delegates to go to Turkey
The US has also asked Turkey to stop its invasion and announce a ceasefire. Trump also plans to send his deputy Mike Pence and the recently-appointed National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien to Turkey soon to begin talks on the matter that is increasingly looking ominous.
Pence on Monday said Trump had a talk with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan who promised to not go after the border town of Kobani which the US-backed Kurds had snatched from the Islamic State (IS) in 2015.
"President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of America wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence," Pence said outside the White House.
The Americans were trying for a quick exit from Syria as the two forces were clashing. They were looking to leave northeast Syria although the small garrison of troops stationed at al-Tanf near Syria's border with Iraq and Jordan will remain.
US troops to stay in Middle East to prevent IS revival
In another twist to his plans, Trump said roughly 1,000 US troops that he had ordered to exit Syria will remain in the Middle East to prevent the IS from reviving, the AP reported.
In a written statement made on Monday, October 14, that authorized economic sanctions, Trump also confirmed that the withdrawing troops will "redeploy and remain in the region" to prevent a repetition of 2014.
The maverick president even blamed the Kurdish fighters saying they released imprisoned IS jihadists to lure the US back into Syria.
He said this after over 800 IS supporters — mostly wives and children of fighters — escaped from a prison camp near Ain Issa in northern Syria reportedly because of Turkish bombings.
It was the second time that Trump blamed the Kurds. After announcing his decision to pull out of Syria, he had defended it saying the ethnic fighters had not helped the US during the Second World War.
Trump's words came hours after the Kurds, fighting for their survival, entered into an agreement with the Russia-backed Syrian Army to defend them and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops reached the border to combat the Turkish offensive.