​Trump tweet throws a spanner in safe zone plans

TURKEY - In Brief 08 Oct 2019 by Atilla Yesilada

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Trump staged one of his classic U-turns on Monday, with White House first green-lighting a Turkish military campaign in North East Syria, and then Trump tweeting his second “I will obliterate Turkey” warning in early evening.He mentioned “crossing my lines” which makes the U-turn even more intriguing. In this brief, which I’m sure and afraid is the first of many to follow, I’ll try to answer three questions briefly. What made Trump change his mind? What is the “line not to be crossed” ? And what will Erdogan do? It is not unusual for Trump to change course after receiving wise council from close allies. In this case, he was persuaded by Erdogan to pull out of Syria and let him deal with the myriad problems first, such as safe keeping ISIS prisoners. But, surveying the American press, I find that many Congresspeople and experts have criticized the decision. For instance his close ally and friend Sen Lindsey Graham labeled it'A stain on America's honor', as well initiating in cooperation with senators from across the aisle a new sanctions bill which will be “veto-proof”. He was later joined by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell condemning the decision. I surmise Trump didn’t want to lose critical Senate votes in the upcoming impeachment battle. At this juncture, I can’t give a definite answer to the question of what constitutes “off-limits” for Trump. From secondary sources I surmise, US would want Turkeynot to invade Kurdish populated towns, but take over ISIS detainees and keep them in jail,and honor a promise not to expand the safe zone towards Dar-ez-Zor (to the South), as Erdogan hinted he wanted to. To be more specific, today several Turkish sources begin menti...