By Vivian Salama and Rebecca Ballhaus
WASHINGTON -- President Trump said he is lifting U.S. sanctions
against Turkey as its forces suspended their offensive against the
Kurds in northern Syria and instituted a separate agreement with
Moscow that sent Russian security forces to begin patrolling
nearby.
The approximately six-day pause began midday Wednesday after
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey struck a deal with
President Vladimir Putin of Russia in the Black Sea resort town of
Sochi a day earlier.
Speaking at the White House Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the
Turkish government informed his administration Wednesday that it is
stopping combat and making the U.S.-negotiated cease-fire
permanent, adding, "And it will indeed be permanent."
"So the sanctions will be lifted unless something happens that
we are not happy with," said Mr. Trump, referring to the sanctions
imposed earlier this month against Turkey's defense, interior and
energy ministers and their departments, coupled with a threat to
raise U.S. tariffs on steel imported from Turkey to 50%.
The deal negotiated between Ankara and Moscow effectively
supplemented a cease-fire agreement brokered by Vice President Mike
Pence last week that expired on Tuesday and highlights how the U.S.
withdrawal has diminished Washington's ability to exert influence
in Syria.
U.S. lawmakers in both parties, who have criticized Mr. Trump's
moves on Syria, questioned his assertions Wednesday and called for
more forceful action. "Erdogan has NOT agreed to stop all military
operations in Syria, " Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) wrote in a
Twitter message following Mr. Trump's remarks. He said Russia and
Turkish forces have plans for removing Kurdish forces along the
border, "including Kurdish cities."
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the chamber's Democratic leader,
the Senate Democratic leader, said the decision to lift the
sanctions rewards Mr. Erdogan for its assault on Washington's
Kurdish allies. "President Trump's weakness in the face of
strongmen and his reckless decision-making is putting the lives of
our allies, Americans, and our national security at risk," he wrote
on Twitter.
The U.S. withdrawal is transforming the battle lines of the
yearslong Syrian conflict, expanding the influence of the
Russia-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria after
more than eight years of revolution and civil war, and threatening
the self-ruled Kurdish region with collapse.
Mr. Trump said he intends to keep a small number of U.S. troops
in northern Syria to protect oil fields but didn't provide details.
"When we commit American troops to battle we must do so only when a
vital national interest is at stake," he said.
U.S. officials have scrambled to devise options to continue
working with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces in
northeast Syria and to protect the oil fields there. One proposal
calls for keeping up to 300 U.S. special-operations forces there,
who would work with thousands of SDF fighters and be protected by
U.S. air power.
A senior administration official declined to say how many U.S.
troops would remain in Syria, citing security concerns, adding that
the president wants to "have all American troops out of Syria and
that's something that we believe will ultimately happen." Asked
about Russia's role in the cease-fire, the official said any
agreements between Russia and Turkey are "between them" and that
U.S. is watching Moscow's involvement in the region warily.
The future of the U.S. troops leaving Syria remained uncertain
Wednesday, more than a week after Mr. Trump ordered them out of the
country's north. On Saturday, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper
said the troops would go to Iraq following their withdrawal from
Syria, both to counter the Islamic State and to defend Iraq.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari told the
Associated Press after meeting with Mr. Esper that the U.S. forces
would only be allowed to remain in Iraq for four weeks and would
then have to move to Kuwait, Qatar or the U.S.
In response, a senior U.S. defense official said that moving
U.S. troops out of Syria and through Iraq would take weeks, not
days, and be coordinated with the Iraqi government. A senior State
Department official said Wednesday that the U.S. was discussing
with Iraqi officials how long those troops would stay in Iraq and
how many would be there, leaving open the possibility that some
might remain for an extended period.
The Russian Defense Ministry published a map Wednesday showing
that, as part of its agreement with Turkey, Russian military police
had begun patrolling a 40-mile-wide area around the Syrian town of
Manbij, a significant U.S. base during the campaign against the
Islamic State.
A convoy of Russian military police also arrived Wednesday in
Kobani, a town that is an icon of the Kurdish autonomous region in
Syria and a symbol of the fight against the Islamic State. Russian
officers met with local officials there to discuss how they would
interact, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that
Kurdish fighters who don't leave the border area voluntarily would
be driven out by Russian and Syrian security forces. When the
150-hour period expires, "the remaining Kurdish fighters will face
the Turkish army's steamroller, " Mr. Peskov said, according to
Russian state news agencies.
Kurdish forces didn't say whether they would withdraw from the
border area as mandated by Russia and Turkey. Kurdish forces
withdrew last week from some areas under the U.S.-brokered
cease-fire, but remain in place across a much larger area running
along the border from which Turkey and Russia now seek to remove
them.
President Trump spoke Wednesday with Mazloum Abdi, the commander
of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who said in a Twitter
message posted by a spokesman: "We THANK President Trump for his
tireless efforts that stopped the brutal Turkish attack and
jihadist groups on our people."
He added Mr. Trump promised to maintain a partnership with the
Kurdish-led forces and provide "long-term support at various
spheres," without specifying details of the arrangement.
Criticism of Mr. Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops
continued Wednesday as members of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee questioned the administration's top envoy for matters
related to Syria and the Islamic State. Rep. Eliot Engel (D.,
N.Y.), who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said
Wednesday that Mr. Trump's withdrawal decision had led to a
"stunning defeat" for the U.S.
The envoy, James Jeffrey, faced similar criticism Tuesday from
Democratic and Republican senators who said the move has allowed
Russia to fill the vacuum left across much of northern Syria and
that Mr. Erdogan has achieved his longstanding objectives
concerning Syrian Kurds.
Mr. Jeffrey testified Tuesday that he hadn't been consulted on
Mr. Trump's initial decision to withdraw troops. He also said that
dozens of Islamic State fighters had managed to escape because of
the Turkish intervention and that hundreds of Kurds had been killed
and wounded.
Mr. Trump said Wednesday that some Islamic State detainees being
guarded by Kurdish forces had escaped but that they represented "a
small number relatively speaking, and they've been largely
recaptured."
"It really affects our ability to operate in that part of the
world," he added. "I have been here a long time, and I can hardly
remember a policy that has been as bad as this."
--Nancy A. Youssef and David Gauthier-Villars contributed to
this article.
Write to Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com and Rebecca
Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 23, 2019 19:56 ET (23:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.