Trump threatens sanctions if Turkey doesn’t ‘play by the rules’ in Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In a flurry of tweets on Thursday morning, US President Donald Trump said he is watching Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish-held northeast Syria “closely” and threatened to imposed sanctions if Ankara doesn’t “play by the rules”. 

Defending his decision to withdraw US troops from the border, which greenlighted Wednesday’s Turkish offensive against Rojava, Trump said: “Turkey has been planning to attack the Kurds for a long time. They have been fighting forever.”

“I am trying to end the ENDLESS WARS,” he added.

Trump said there were two schools of thought on how to respond to the unfolding crisis in northern Syria, and that he was “talking to both sides”.

“Some want us to send tens of thousands of soldiers to the area and start a new war all over again,” he said, pointing out that Turkey is a NATO ally. 

“Others say STAY OUT, let the Kurds fight their own battles (even with our financial help).”

“I say hit Turkey very hard financially & with sanctions if they don’t play by the rules! I am watching closely,” he added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday announced the start of his long-threatened military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, nicknamed Operation Peace Spring. 

The Turkish president stressed the operation is designed to target the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and would not undermine efforts to defeat remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as Daesh. 

Turkey views the YPG, which forms the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK has fought a decades-long guerrilla war with the Turkish state for greater cultural and political rights for Kurds in Turkey.

Trump greenlighted the Turkish offensive on Sunday night when he announced the withdrawal of US troops stationed in the border area between Syria and Turkey.

The autonomous Kurdish administration saw the US presence as a guarantee against Turkish attack. The SDF’s top commander Mazloum Kobani Abdi called the move a “stab in the back”.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northeast Syria, teamed up with Democrat Chris Van Hollen on Wednesday to introduce legislation designed to impose far-reaching sanctions on NATO ally Turkey.

The sanctions would freeze all US assets of Turkey's political leadership and impose sanctions on entities that do business with Turkey's military or with oil and gas companies that service its armed forces, AFP reports. 

“While the Administration refuses to act against Turkey, I expect strong bipartisan support,” Graham said on Twitter.

It is currently unclear whether the sanctions will get through both houses of Congress and get Trump’s approval. 

The international community has condemned the Turkish offensive. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will hold an emergency session at 14.00 (GMT) on Thursday in response to the Turkish attack on Kurdish forces  in northeast Syria.