Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are steaming mad at President Trump’s decision to relocate a few dozen US forces away from the Syrian-Turkish border.
Lawmakers are demanding briefings from administration officials about what factors went into the decision. A bipartisan duo is in the process of drafting legislation that would sanction Turkey’s political and military leadership for the incursion into northeast Syria and keep those sanctions in place as long as Ankara remains in the area.
Democratic presidential candidates are lambasting Trump for what they term a “betrayal” of the very fighters who were so effective at driving the Islamic State out of their once formidable territorial caliphate.
The optics aren’t exactly great for the White House either. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 60,000 people were displaced in the first 24 hours of the Turkish operation. Depending on how far south the Turks intend to go, that figure could triple in the days and weeks to come.
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