In Turkey's way: Russia deploys patrols to northern Syria

Last week, it was a US troop pullout and an invitation to the White House. Now Donald Trump is slapping sanctions on Turkey. The US president's surprise decision to withdraw support for Syria's Kurds was taken as a green light by Ankara, which wasted no time crossing the border with the aim of establishing a buffer zone between itself and a group closely allied with its own PKK insurgency. Amid the uproar over abandoning the fighting force that took on the Islamic State group, we try to make sense of the US sanctions.

We also ask whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pause for thought in the face of newfound US pressure, alongside arms embargoes from fellow NATO members. Just how much is it all putting the Atlantic Alliance to the test? Is it really in Turkey's interest to further strain ties with NATO, just as Russia emerges as sole power broker between Ankara and the Kurds, who have hastily had to trade in autonomy for protection from the Moscow-backed regime in Damascus?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Melissa Kalaydjian.

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