Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead
President Trump and President Erdogan at the G20 Summit, June 29, 2019.

In what appears to be a sudden decision by the Trump Administration, the White House issued a statement on Sunday announcing that US Armed Forces would immediately abandon northern Syria to the Turkish invasion.

The move would abandon the Kurdish fighters who have stood as America’s years-long allies against Islamic State terrorists to the invasion by Turkey, which has long labeled the Syrian Kurds themselves as “terrorists” and vowed to “eliminate” them.

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“Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by telephone. Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces … will no longer be in the immediate area,” the statement read in part.

The full statement follows, courtesy of a tweet by NBC News.

Erdogan and Trump have agreed to meet at the White House next month to discuss the creation of a so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria, according to the AFP news agency, quoting the Turkish presidency.

This weekend, Erdogan had warned Turkey could launch a cross-border offensive “as soon as today, tomorrow.”

Full text of the statement by the White House follows.

Statement from the Press Secretary

Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey by telephone. Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial “Caliphate,” will no longer be in the immediate area.

The United States Government has pressed France, Germany, and other European nations, from which many captured ISIS fighters came, to take them back, but they did not want them and refused. The United States will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the United States taxpayer. Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years in the wake of the defeat of the territorial “Caliphate” by the United States.”


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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.