The Syria-Turkey border crisis triggered by the US continues to create political reverberations in the rising powers. On October 7, 2019, United States President Donald Trump abruptly announced that he intended to withdraw US troops from Syria: “[I]t is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars [sic], many of them being tribal, and bring our soldiers home. […] Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out”. At a press conference later that day, President Trump confirmed his plans as “a firm decision.” Two days later, Turkey launched an assault on Syria, with plans to clear a stretch of land to resettle Syrian refugees. This action confirmed fears that the US withdrawal left its Kurdish allies at risk. On October 17, US and Turkey brokered a 120-hour ceasefire to allow Kurdish forces time to withdraw. As the ceasefire was due to expire on October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow and successfully negotiated a longer ceasefire set to expire on October 29, which was supported by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reports of violations of the ceasefire remain rampant, however. Despite the US’s announcement to withdraw from the region, on October 27, the US raided a compound in northwestern Syria and killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a key leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist organization. In announcing the outcome of the raid, Trump thanked “the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and […] the Syrian Kurds” for their support in the operation. Read the full Policy Alert here.
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