MANBIJ: Turkeyignored US sanctions and pressed on with its assault on northern Syriayesterday, while the Russia-backed Syrian army roared into one of the mosthotly contested cities abandoned by US forces in Donald Trump's retreat.Reuters journalists accompanied Syrian government forces who entered the centreof the city of Manbij, a flashpoint where US troops had previously conductedjoint patrols with Turkey.
Russian andSyrian flags were flying from a building on the city outskirts, and from aconvoy of military vehicles. US forces announced they had pulled out of thecity. A week after reversing US policy and moving troops out of the way toallow Turkey to attack Washington's Syrian allies, Trump announced a package ofsanctions to punish Ankara. But the measures - mainly a hike in steel tariffsand a pause in trade talks - were less robust than financial markets hadexpected, and Trump's critics derided them as too feeble to have an impact.
The Turkish lira,which had fallen on the expectation of tougher US measures, recovered after thesanctions were announced, as did its bond and stock markets, with tradersnoting that Trump had spared Turkish banks. Trump's unexpected decision towithhold protection from Syria's Kurds after a phone call with TurkishPresident Tayyip Erdogan a week ago swiftly upended five years of US policy inthe Middle East.
The withdrawalgives a free hand to Washington's adversaries in the world's deadliest ongoingwar, namely Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his Russian and Iranianallies. The United States announced on Sunday it was withdrawing its entireforce of 1,000 troops from northern Syria. Its former Kurdish alliesimmediately forged a new alliance with Assad's Russia-backed government,inviting the army into towns across the breadth of their territory.
Troops enterManbij
Russian-backedSyrian forces moved swiftly to fill the void left by departing Americans fromManbij west of the Euphrates river, which Turkey has vowed to capture. "Weare out of Manbij," said Colonel Myles B Caggins, spokesman for the US-ledcoalition in Syria. Troops "are executing a deliberate withdrawal fromnortheast Syria." A group of journalists accompanied by Syrian armypersonnel journeyed into Manbij city where upon their arrival a group of peoplegathered, waving the Syrian flag and pictures of Assad.
However thereporters left when gunfire was heard and a group of some 10 young men inKurdish YPG uniforms began breaking cameras and yelling. Syrian state mediasaid SDF fighters had opened fire on a march organized by the people of Manbijto welcome the army. Trump's pullout ends joint US-Turkish patrols of theManbij area under a deal aimed to persuade Turkey not to invade.
Syrian statetelevision broadcast footage of what it said was government troops enteringManbij yesterday, under their new deal with the Kurds. A resident inside thecity told Reuters the Syrian troops were on its outskirts. Turkey-backed Syrianfighters said they would continue their advance towards Manbij. A Reuterscameraman on the Turkish frontier reported heavy bombardment yesterday morningof the Syrian border town of Ras Al Ain, where a spokesman for the Kurdish-ledSyrian Democratic Forces reported a fierce battle was taking place.
Sanctions 'fallvery short'
Trump hasdefended his reversal of US policy as part of a plan to withdraw the UnitedStates from "endless" wars in the Middle East. But his critics,including senior figures in his own Republican Party, cast it as a betrayal ofthe Kurds, loyal allies who lost thousands of fighters as the principal groundforces in Washington's battle against Islamic State.
The Democraticspeaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said Trump's sanctionswere too little, too late. "His announcement of a package of sanctionsagainst Turkey falls very short of reversing that humanitarian disaster."Turkey says it aims to defeat the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees asterrorists for their links to separatists in Turkey, and to create a "safezone" where millions of Syrian refugees can be resettled.
The UnitedNations says 160,000 people have fled their homes as Turkish forces advance.The Kurdish administration puts the number of displaced at 270,000. The UNHuman Rights office said yesterday Turkey could be held responsible for warcrimes by fighters under its direction, potentially including the assassinationof Hevrin Khalaf, a leading Kurdish politician killed on the side of a highwayon Saturday by gunmen who posted the incident on the Internet.
Turkish-backedfighters have denied blame for her murder. Erdogan, who has pledged to continuemilitary operations come what may, said Turkey was giving the world a chance tobring peace to the region. "The international community missed itsopportunity to prevent the Syrian crisis from pulling an entire region into amaelstrom of instability," he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. "TheEuropean Union - and the world - should support what Turkey is trying todo."
The Syrian armydeployments into Kurdish-held territory evacuated by Washington are a victoryfor President Bashar al-Assad and his most powerful ally, Russia, giving them afoothold in the biggest remaining swath of the country that had been beyondtheir grasp. Trump allies insisted Washington had not given its blessing to theTurkish offensive, and demanded a ceasefire.
"The UnitedStates of America simply is not going to tolerate Turkey's invasion in Syriaany further," Vice President Mike Pence said. "We are calling onTurkey to stand down, end the violence and come to the negotiating table."Trump's sanctions include reimposing steel tariffs and halting talks on a tradedeal. But bilateral trade between Turkey and the United States is small -around a tenth the size of Turkey's trade with Europe. Washington's mosteffective form of economic leverage would be to hinder Turkey's access to USfinancial markets, a step Trump has so far avoided.
"Thesanctions are not related to banking, so the markets will have a positiveperception," said Cem Tozge, asset management director at Ata Invest. In apotentially more damaging blow, German carmaker Volkswagen said it waspostponing a final decision on whether to build a 1 billion euro ($1.1 billion)plant in Turkey, citing concern over "current developments" afterinternational condemnation of the incursion.
Europeancountries have criticized the offensive but have limited their response so farto announcing suspensions of arms sales, although weapons account for only asmall fraction of EU-Turkish trade. Trump said US troops would remain at asmall garrison at Tanf in southern Syria "to continue to disruptremnants" of Islamic State. The base on the southern border is hundreds ofmiles away from the Kurdish area in the north that had previously been the mainUS theatre.- Reuters