Assad sends Syrian troops north as Turkish offensive escalates

Bloomberg

Syrian government forces pushed closer to the Turkish border after striking a deal with Kurdish fighters, as Washington’s decision to abandon its allies reverberated on the battlefield.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his offensive into Syria is necessary to push back Kurdish militants and resettle refugees, but the rapid advance has drawn international condemnation, accusations of war crimes and a threat of US and European sanctions.
Kurdish forces that previously fought alongside the US have warned they may no longer be able to secure camps and prisons holding IS extremists, including Europeans whose home countries don’t want them back.
Donald Trump reiterated that “big sanctions on Turkey” are coming, but defended his decision in Twitter posts reiterating that the US was “not going into another war with people who have been fighting with each other for 200 years.” He also suggested the Kurds may be releasing prisoners “to get us involved.”
The Syrian advance into the northeast has raised concerns that the eight-year Syrian war, which grew out of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, is entering a new and unpredictable phase. Russia, whose aerial support helped turn the tide of the conflict in favor of President Bashar al-Assad, has emerged as the key power broker in the latest battle.
Erdogan launched the Turkish offensive, after receiving assurances from Trump that US troops, which supported the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia during five years of grinding war to defeat IS, would stand aside. Turkey accuses the YPG of links to a separatist group it has been battling for decades and wants to prevent the rise of a Kurdish proto-state on its border.
Assad’s march to the border comes after the Kurdish command for the northeast said it had been forced to strike a deal with Damascus in the face of the rapid Turkish advance.
Syria’s army deployed in Al Tabqa airbase and Ain Issa and was now stationed six kilometres away from the border with Turkey, according to Syria’s Al Ekhbariyah TV, which showed footage of soldiers carrying Syrian flags being welcomed by local residents.

It’s not too late to sanction Turkey over Syria: Mnuchin
Bloomberg

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there’s still time to impose meaningful sanctions on Turkey over its military actions in Syria amid lawmaker criticism that the US’s response is too weak.
”It’s definitely not too late,” Mnuchin said in response to a question from reporters outside the White House. “Turkey is a full member of NATO and an ally of ours who is now fighting over border issues with the Kurds who have helped us with IS. It’s a complicated situation and we’re monitoring it.”
Mnuchin said he and other top-level officials were set to brief Trump on Monday.