Peace Operation Syria: Trump Lifts Turkey Sanction, Russia Deploys Troops to Syrian Border

The US is lifting sanctions imposed on Turkey nine days ago over its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, President Donald Trump says.

“The sanctions will be lifted unless something happens that we are not happy with,” Trump said  on Wednesday in a special address from the White House.

His decision came after Russia agreed with Turkey to deploy troops to extend a ceasefire along the Syrian border.

Earlier this month, Trump halted negotiations on a $100bn trade deal with Turkey, raised steel tariffs back up to 50 percent and imposed sanctions on three senior Turkish officials and Turkey’s defence and energy ministries.

He was heavily criticised by both Democrats and Republicans for the abrupt military pullout, as the Kurds targeted by Turkey had been key US allies in the fight against the Islamic State group (IS) in the region.

Meanwhile, Russia  has warned Kurdish forces to quickly withdraw from the  Turkey-Syria border,  after a deal between Moscow and Ankara, or be crushed by the Turkish army, adding that the United States had “betrayed and abandoned” the Syrian fighters.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov  quoted “The United States has been the Kurds’ closest ally in recent years. [But] in the end, it abandoned the Kurds and, in essence, betrayed them,” He added “Now they [the US] prefer to leave the Kurds at the border [with Turkey] and almost force them to fight the Turks.”

If the Kurds did not withdraw as per the deal, Peskov said Syrian border guards and Russian military police would have to withdraw, leaving the Kurds to deal with the Turkish army.

Russian forces also have begun to deploy towards the Turkey-Syria border, as part of deal to remove Kurdish troops.  Units have already entered the two key border towns of Kobane and Manbij.

Under the deal agreed by Russia and Turkey, Kurdish fighters were given 150 hours from noon on Wednesday to pull back 30km (18 miles) along the border.

Turkish troops will continue to control an area they took during a recent offensive against the Kurdish fighters, regarded by Turkey as terrorists.