Trump's pull-out, Turkey's war: Offensive against Syria Kurds follows withdrawal order

2019-10-09 6

It's on. Just three short days after a phone call with Turkey's president that led Donald Trump to order the withdrawal of US forces from northeast Syria, Turkish fighter jets are reportedly bombing positions across the border. This after Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the launch of an offensive, shrugging off calls for restraint from NATO allies, plus Iran and Russia.


Even in Washington, Senate Republicans have broken ranks with the US president's decision and warned of sanctions against Turkey. Right now, it's only the beginning. We ask how far it can go and why the same Republicans who stood up to the White House over Syria's Kurds are standing by their president when it comes to Ukraine?More broadly, it's hard to ignore the context of Sunday night's shock 11pm announcement by Donald Trump on Turkey and Syria: smack in the middle of the political tsunami of an impeachment probe. We ask our panel about that context and the president's political instincts going forward.Produced by Alessandro XENOS, Juliette LAURAIN and Ingri BERGO

Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en

Free Traffic Exchange