President Trump seemingly set out to quell fears Monday that the White House was creating an opening for Turkey to attack U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in Northern Syria.
The White House announced Sunday night that U.S. troops would leave northern Syria and that Turkey would launch an invasion in the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the Kurdish fighters "terrorists," as a result of a longstanding separatist movement among Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, but the U.S. considered the Kurdish forces in northern Syria their strongest allies in the fight against the Islamic State, which is why Trump has received bipartisan criticism for leaving them vulnerable to Turkish forces.
Trump, though, said that Turkey won't do anything he, in his "great and unmatched wisdom," considers "off limits" or else he'll "totally destroy and obliterate" the Turkish economy — again.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump doesn't mention the Kurds by name, but he has boasted about preventing Erdogan from attempting to "wipe out" the Kurds in the past, so it stands to reason he was referring to them. Tim O'Donnell
-
Venezuela: Does Trump want war?Feature Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel and waging a narco-terrorism campaign against the United States
-
Two years on, a Gaza truce may be in sightFeature Israel and Hamas consider the U.S.’ 20-point peace plan exchanging hostages for prisoners
-
News organizations reject Pentagon restrictionsSpeed Read The proposed policy is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest move to limit press access at the Pentagon
-
Trump declares end to Gaza war, ‘dawn’ of new MideastSpeed Read Hamas freed the final 20 living Israeli hostages and Israel released thousands of Palestinian detainees
-
Has the Gaza deal saved Netanyahu?Today's Big Question With elections looming, Israel’s longest serving PM will ‘try to carry out political alchemy, converting the deal into political gold’
-
Trump’s deportations are changing how we think about foodIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Department of Labor’s admission that immigration raids have affected America’s food supplies reopens a longstanding debate
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia JamesSpeed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Judge blocks Trump’s Guard deployment in ChicagoSpeed Read The president is temporarily blocked from federalizing the Illinois National Guard or deploying any Guard units in the state
