President Donald Trump arrives with Vice President Mike Pence, and Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, for a ceremony to establish the U.S. Space Command in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on October 23 that Turkey has decided to make the ceasefire in northeast Syria permanent. Mr. Trump expectedly took credit for stabilizing the situation in the region.
“Early this morning, the government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria, and making the ceasefire permanent,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “However, you would also define the word permanent in that part of the world as somewhat questionable. We all understand that.”
The president added that he had instructed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to lift sanctions imposed on Turkey in response to it offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.
However, Trump warned Ankara that the Washington could re-impose the sanctions if “something happens that we are not happy with.”
Regarding U.S. military presence in northeast Syria, Trump said that all forces will withdraw but some personnel will stay and take over oil fields in the region. The president said that Washington will later decided what to do with the Syrian oil.
Trump ignored the Russian-Turkish agreement, reached a day earlier, claiming that the permanent ceasefire was a result of his work and the work of his team.
SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi released a statement thanking Trump for his effort and support for northeast Syria. The commander spoken with the U.S. president ahead of his speech.
“We thank President Trump for his tireless efforts that stopped the brutal Turkish attack and jihadist groups on our people … President Trump promised to maintain partnership with SDF and long-term support at various spheres,” Mazloum said in his statement.
Trump’s speech was clearly an attempt to take credit for stabilizing the situation in northeast Syria. The U.S. president faced a backlash from the mainstream media and many politicians in Washington over his decision to pull troops out of Syria.
Looks like Tommy was right sto pro (lolz) ?
“President Trump promised…” Stupid Kurds will never learn. The Kurds need new leadership…the Israelis don’t care about them…and never have.
Contrary to popular believe the Kurds were never a cohesive group. Since they are squatters from Turkey, Irak, Iran, there is no entity or group that represents the Kurds as whole, even in Syria, they are many groups, and many dont get along/have different views of what others might have.
Yes, I remember when they gave up Kirkuk…Kurds on the street were wondering who was in control/giving orders. After vowing to fight, they were told to give it up by those in ‘control’.
What a cheek – Washington will decide what to do with Syrian oil – its not theirs to decide.
lol.. when you got the guns ,you can do what you want. The question is if they choose to explore it and trying to ship is who will stop them…The only routes they have to move the oil out Is iraq and now can the Iraqi government stop them. US is the world leading military powers and no one there to attack it and a nation can only try to defence themselves from.God bless America .
forgot the /s tag, cheeky, not bad; inspired by our Tommy Jensen, ay?
Your a moran,
LOL, the only route out for the oil is a pipeline running towards Damascus.
It would require road trucking – and across Iraqi territory to Turkey. Now, surprise, surprise, this is exactly what ‘ISIS’ did, with direct collusion of US and Kurds, and the oil was then on-sold by Turkish middleman to Israel at cut rate prices. But guess what happened next? The Russian air force intervened and detonated several very large convoys of these Turkish owned tankers, while they were all bottle-necked before the Turkish border crossing. The PMU militias in Iraq are quite capable of halting illicit tanker convoys coming out of central east Syria – should the Syrians suggest they do so (and since US and Israel have repeatedly bombed PMU units in Iraq, the PMU would be very cooperative with Syrian requests).
Does anyone else get the idea this whole thing was pre planned and played to the letter to be used as cover for something else. Nothing is ever as it seems , especially when it comes to war. Wasn’t there an ISIS attack in Northern Iraq killing some colonel and chief of Police which is the beginning of a new phase. Those wives of ISIS were moved for a reason.
There is a show going on.
Trump likely knew that Turkey would leverage the Kurds towards Damascus, and probably figured that would save their bacon, so he brokered a shaky ceasefire that he knew would be cemented by Putin.
Really? After all those crimes they have done ?!?!!!!?! I guess if Kurds were jews now turky would be doomed but no kurds are not jews …
a perfectly coordinated play by russia and the unhinged states of A with turkey as a willing part-player is most likely the final nail in the syrian war coffin (unless turkey decides to do something stupid in idlib). the true loser is israel and now that the unhinged states of A seems intent to withdraw from its warring past and the middle east, israel should be worried, very worried.
Trumps finally got a legal divorce from the Kurds allowing him to get out of Syria permanently, and does anyone thank him for his actions, no they don’t, both sides just call him more names, but I’m sure Trump’s doesn’t give a toss, he’s just happy counting all the 15 billion he’s going to save this year, and next year, and the year after that too, and probably even a few more years worth as well, LOL. The way I see it Putin’s doing Trump a big favour by letting him pull his troops out with no complications, [by offering the Kurds security guarantees], but if what Trump said is correct,
“Early this morning, the government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria, and making the ceasefire permanent,” Trump said, according to Reuters. “However, you would also define the word permanent in that part of the world as somewhat questionable. We all understand that.”
it may not be such a favour at all, maybe Trumps just doing himself a favour and not helping anyone other than himself [shock horror], and poor old Putin may instead be setting himself up for more problems than he’s reckoned for. Kurds attack Turkey, Turkey attacks Kurds and SAA, and SAA attacks Turkey, then what does Russia do. And now instead of Putin trying to entice Erdogan away from NATO, the US, NATO, and the EU, will all be trying to entice Erdogan back again, and since the deceptive two faced Erdogan hasn’t abided by even one of the dozen or so Astana agreements he made with Russia and Iran, and also happily broke the pre war Adana protocols he and Assad had in place, I don’t think Putin’s in for an easy ride at all. Trump and Erdogan may both be unpredictable, both also irrational and totally irresponsible, but at least Trump doesn’t pack a gun in his hip pocket, and I haven’t seen him froth at the mouth like Erdogan does either, so maybe Putin should also pack a gun at any face to face meetings he has with Erdogan, God knows what could happen if he got angry and lost his temper, LOL.
One Flew Over Into The Cuckoo’s Nest
this whole thing has been so bizarre, first trump dumps the kurds, then he threatens turkey, and tries to get them to a ceasefire, why? If he truly didn’t care about the kurds why do all this to stop turkey? Why not just let them go full steam ahead at the kurds? Not that I care for turkey all that much, its just weird. The funny thing is the US probably would never have left if turkey didnt invade. I feel like this whole thing was preplanned from the start, probably by US/turkey/Israel maybe, but if thats true, so far the outcome has not really been in their favor, seems now its more in russia and SAA favor lol :)
Good afternoon. Very interesting article. I read about this https://fnews.today/. Two weeks ago, Trump announced a decision to withdraw American troops from northeast Syria. Immediately after this, Turkey launched an offensive on the territory of the Kurds, who until the last were US allies in the fight against jihadists. Trump’s decision to withdraw the troops was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans, and the Kurds called Trump’s move “a stab in the back.” The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported a resolution condemning Trump’s decision to withdraw the US military from Syria. The resolution was supported by both Democrats and Republicans. Good luck everyone!