US Senator Graham slams Trump for allowing Turkey to invade Syria
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham has blasted the administration of President Donald Trump for its decision to allow Turkey to invade northern Syria and potentially wipe out US-backed Kurdish fighters.
In a Twitter message on Monday, the senator from South Carolina criticized the maneuver as "a disaster in the making" in a rare public break with the Republican president.
“I don’t know all the details regarding President Trump’s decision in northern Syria, [but] if press reports are accurate, this is a disaster in the making,” Graham wrote on Twitter.
Graham, a vocal defender of Trump and frequent adviser on matters of foreign policy, claimed the White House move would ensure a “comeback” of the Daesh terror group, force the Kurds “to align with” Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran, damage the relationship between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government and Congress, and become “a stain on America’s honor for abandoning the Kurds.”
Graham also tweeted that if this plan goes forward, he would introduce Senate resolution opposing the move and asking for reversal of this decision.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also slammed Trump's decision to withdraw US forces from Syria.
"We must always have the backs of our allies, if we expect them to have our back," Haley tweeted.
In a statement on Sunday, the White House announced Turkey's planned invasion of northern Syria that seemed to indicate at least tacit American support.
The decision came after a phone conversation between Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the White House statement said.
The White House said US troops would withdraw from the border between Turkey and Syria and wouldn’t be involved in the offensive.
On Monday, Erdogan spoke of imminent army operations against Kurdish militants in Syria.
"There is a phrase that we always say: we can come any night without warning. It is absolutely out of the question for us to further tolerate the threats from these terrorist groups," Erdogan told reporters.
Ankara views US-backed YPG militants as terrorists affiliated with the homegrown Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group.
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