Erdogan Announces Military Offensive Into Northeastern Syria

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally announced the beginning of a military offensive into northeastern Syria, three days after President Donald Trump said the U.S. wouldn’t stand in the way.

Erdogan said the operation, code-named “Peace Spring,” was meant to force back Kurdish militants controlling the border area and target Islamic State militants.

Earlier in the day, a small forward group of Turkish forces entered Syria at two points along the frontier, close to the Syrian towns of Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, according to a Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Turkish military said the operation began at 4 p.m. local time and that it informed all the relevant parties beforehand.

U.S. senators including Lindsey Graham, a key ally of Trump, slammed Turkey’s incursion and threatened punishment against Ankara.

Erdogan said he spoke with Putin, who has been very “constructive” as the Turkish military prepared for its advance.

Footage carried by Turkish televisions including CNN-Turk showed Turkish

aircraft and howitzers shelling positions held by Kurdish militants around the Syrian town of Tal Abyad.

The lira fell as much 0.7% after the operation began.

Kurdish-led forces saying they’re halting anti-Islamic State operations

President Donald Trump said in a statement that the U.S. didn’t endorse Turkey’s incursion into Syria and that he had “made it clear” the invasion “is a bad idea.”

“Turkey has committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place—and we will hold them to this commitment,” Trump said. “In addition, Turkey is now responsible for ensuring all ISIS fighters being held captive remain in prison and that ISIS does not reconstitute in any way, shape, or form.”

Trump told Erdogan in a telephone call on Sunday that he would withdraw U.S. forces from the border area Turkey seeks to occupy, a decision interpreted around the world as a green light for the incursion. The U.S. president has suffered broad criticism from Democrats and Republicans in Congress for a move seen as abandonment of Kurdish allies who helped defeat Islamic State militants.

“We expect Turkey to abide by all of its commitments, and we continue to monitor the situation closely,” Trump said.

A spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces says the group has stopped its operations against Islamic State because it needs to focus on the threat from Turkey. The U.S. military relied heavily on SDF forces to retake Islamic State’s so-called caliphate. Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the group, said six civilians have been killed so far by Turkey’s attacks.

The Turkish currency reversed earlier gains to fall as much as 0.8% after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the cross-border operation. The losses picked up even as state lenders increased the amount of dollars they were selling to the market, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces urged the international community and the U.S.-led coalition to help prevent what they said was an imminent humanitarian disaster as many of the targeted areas are highly populated.

‘We ask the international community and all countries in the international coalition against Daesh, who we fought together against and won, to carry out their responsibilities and prevent an imminent humanitarian disaster, the SDF said in a statement.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, speaking to the European Parliament, urged Turkey to stop its military incursion into Syria. “I call on Turkey as well as on the other actors to act with restraint and to stop operations already as we are speaking,” Juncker said. “This military action is not leading to good results and we have to bring this to the attention of our Turkish friends.

“If the plan involves the creation of a so-called safe zone, don’t expect the EU to pay for any of it,” he told lawmakers.

Juncker was speaking in a personal capacity. The EU, composed of 28 governments -- is still trying to come with a joint statement to address the issue.

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