October 7, 2019 EditEdit with WPBakery Page Builder

Turkey will soon invade northern Syria, the White House announced late Sunday in a statement that seemed to indicate at least tacit American support.

President Donald Trump talked to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey about the military incursion, the White House said in its statement. The administration, without elaborating on the scope of the attack, referred to the invasion as a “long-planned operation.”

“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 statement said.

Turkey has been a U.S. ally in efforts to battle ISIS in the region — Syria being the location of much of the fighting because of the horrific chaos of its ongoing civil war — but there are complications to the alliance.

Kurdish soldiers had also been working with American forces in Syria, but Turkey regards those forces as its enemy. The Kurdish forces, which have been fighting for an independent homeland for Kurds, could be in serious jeopardy when Turkish troops sweep into the area.

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Erdogan has expressed displeasure with the support the United States has given those Kurdish forces.

The White House used its statement to ding its European allies.

“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,” it said. “Turkey will now be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years.”