The United States ramped up efforts on Friday to persuade Turkey to halt an esca...
WASHINGTON - The United States ramped up efforts on Friday to persuade Turkey to halt an escalating offensive in northern Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, saying Ankara was causing “great harm” to ties and could face potentially devastating sanctions.
“Nobody green-lighted this operation by Turkey, just the opposite. We pushed back very hard at all levels for the Turks not to commence this operation,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told a news briefing, accusing Ankara of damaging ties. Since it began on Tuesday, the Turkish incursion has opened a new front in the eight-year Syrian civil war and drawn international criticism. A war monitor gave a death toll of more than 100 so far and the United Nations said 100,000 people had fled their homes.
A senior U.S. State Department official said late on Thursday that the department has been asked by Trump to see “if there are areas of commonality between the two sides, if there’s a way that we could find our way to a ceasefire.”Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared at the White House to announce that Trump had authorized U.S. officials to draft “very powerful” new sanctions targeting Turkey, but the conditions under which they would be applied were unclear.
Mnuchin said Trump was concerned about potential targeting of civilians by Turkish forces, and wants to make clear that Turkey cannot “allow even a single ISIS fighter to escape.” Milley told reporters he had just spoken with the chief of the Turkish General Staff, General Yasar Guler, who “understands clearly” that the prisoners would be Ankara’s responsibility in areas where it carries out the offensive.
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