Tag

#Kurds

2 incidents

Updated November 1, 2019 Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity

Betrayal of Kurdish Allies: U.S. Withdrawal Enabling Turkish Military Offensive in Northeast Syria

After a phone call with Erdoğan, Trump announced U.S. forces would step aside from the Turkish-Syrian border, describing the Syrian Kurds as 'no angels' and suggesting the region's conflicts were 'not our problem.' Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring within hours. The SDF — which had lost 11,000 fighters combating ISIS — was forced to divert troops from guarding ISIS prisoner facilities; hundreds of ISIS prisoners escaped.

Sources
6
SyriaKurdsTurkeyfirst-termbetrayal
Updated January 1, 2019 Foreign Policy & War
Major Abuse of Power

Mattis Resignation: 'You Have the Right to Have a Secretary of Defense Whose Views Are More Aligned'

Mattis had served as Defense Secretary since January 2017. His resignation came after Trump announced — via tweet, without military consultation — that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, effectively abandoning the Kurdish partners who had done the ground fighting against ISIS. Mattis's resignation letter was unusual in its directness: it stated that he believed Trump had not treated allies with 'respect and seriousness' and had not been 'clear-eyed' about the threats posed by adversaries including Russia and China. Trump, initially describing the departure as planned, later forced Mattis out before the end of his original tenure after the letter's contents became widely circulated.

Sources
4
MattisSyriaKurdsmilitaryfirst-term