Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed US calls to stop
the Syrian offensive, and rejected threats of sanctions, saying that “we will not step back,” and that Turkey’s operation must continue.
A number of US officials are emphasizing their demands for a ceasefire,
and France has also threatened to sanction Turkey if the ceasefire
doesn’t happen. Turkey is still early in an operation they say will stop
at 30 km inside of Syria, and unwilling to consider stopping short of
that.
Pentagon officials say they’ve spoken to Turkey’s military in recent days, pushing them to stop as well. As with Erdogan, the military suggested that they had no indication there was any intention of doing so.
Turkey has been threatening an invasion of northeast Syria, targeting
the Kurdish forces, for years. While the US stopped such offensives from
starting in the past, now that they’re going, Turkey seems determined
to take the operation through to its end.
Turkey Won’t Stop Syria Offensive as US Threatens Sanctions
US Defense Secretary threatens 'serious consequences'
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
Join the Discussion!
We welcome thoughtful and respectful comments. Hateful language, illegal content, or attacks against Antiwar.com will be removed.
For more details, please see our Comment Policy.
