After a phone call with the Turkish President, the American President, made an abrupt decision and ordered the withdrawal of US troops from North Syria and cleared the way for the Turkish incursion whilst also exposing the Kurds to extreme hostility as well as to ethnic cleansing.
Indeed, shortly before the Turkish assaults, the US troops encouraged the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to remove their defensive fortifications from the Turkish border as part of ‘the security mechanism’ deal. The SDF subsequently had little options but to demolish their defence line in response to the American request as they relied on American forces to prevent any Turkish incursion. Nevertheless, Donald Trump ordered the US troops to move out of North Syria, thus giving a green light for Turkish forces to launch their assaults on the Kurdish self-administered territories.
The Turkish military along with its jihadi mercenaries announced immediately a “ground and air operation”. The Kurds interpreted Trump’s decision as a “betrayal” and a “stab in the back”. Within the first week of their so-called “peace spring operation”, the Turkish forces had used violence on an unprecedented scale from ground and air, as well as sophisticated weaponry technology including white phosphorus, targeting civilians, journalists and armed forces indiscriminately.
