Turkey Won’t Stop Syria Offensive as US Threatens Sanctions

US Defense Secretary threatens 'serious consequences'

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.

Author: Jason Ditz

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.