Trump says US could choose from 'war, sanctions or mediations' to deal with the Turkey-Syria crisis
President Donald Trump on Thursday, October 10, said on Twitter that the US has three options to choose from to deal with the deteriorating conditions in north-eastern Syria after Turkey intensified its offensive against the Kurds. Ankara launched the attack on Wednesday, October 9, following Washington’s hasty decision to pull out troops from Syria after Trump had a telephonic talk with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Trump threatened to obliterate Turkey’s economy if it had gone “off limits” in Syria while both Republicans and Democrats criticized the move as it endangered thousands of Kurds who had helped the US in fighting terror outfits like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Turkey, however, cared little and went ahead to push out the Kurds who it considers as separatists as it intends to settle a million Syrian refugees there by creating a safe zone.
In his tweet, the US president said the three options are war, sanctions and mediation. “We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!” he said. In another tweet, Trump vowed that the IS Caliphate was defeated "100%" and the US had no more troops stationed in the part of Syria where Trukey has launched its attack. "We did our job perfectly! Now Turkey is attacking the Kurds, who have been fighting each other for 200 years....," he said.
Trump not in favor of the first option
Later, when reporters asked Trump about the options at the White House, he said that he hoped the US could mediate between Turkey and the Kurds. He added that Turkey is aware of his stand on the issue and suggested that he was not in favor of the first option. The president said that he didn’t think common Americans wanted to see the military being sent back to the region.
The Republican leader was more in favor of something like imposing sanctions as he said: “We are going to possibly do something very very tough with respect to sanctions and other financial things.” The mediating option was also being considered by Trump who said it is time to bring the American soldiers back home and getting out of the Middle East conflicts.
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, was not convinced. In a tweet, she said that it had less to do with military withdrawal and more with Trump's personal financial interests.
Trump also has faced rare criticism from senior Republicans after taking the decision of pulling out troops from Syria. He was accused of abandoning the Syrian Democratic Forces -- dominated by the Kurds -- who have been a loyal friend to the Americans and played a big role in pushing back the IS. One senior soldier of the US Special Forces even told a news outlet that he felt ashamed to see how the US deserted the Kurds and feared serious repercussions in the region.
Trump on Wednesday also said in a press conference that the Kurds hadn’t helped the US during the Second World War (1939-45) as a defense of his decision to remove the troops from Syria that has allowed Turkey to go after the ethnic community.
While there were reports of deaths and grave injuries caused by Turkey’s offensive, the local residents were fleeing with their children and belongings. The United Nations refugee agency has said tens of thousands were on the move while aid bodies said almost half a million people near the border were in peril.