AKCAKALE, Turkey -- Syria's Kurds said Sunday that Syrian government forces had agreed to help them fend off Turkey's invasion -- a major shift in alliances that came after President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops to withdraw from the northern border area amid the escalating conflict.
The shift could lead to clashes between Turkey and Syria and raises the specter of a resurgent Islamic State militant group as the U.S. relinquishes any remaining influence in northern Syria to President Bashar Assad and his chief backer, Russia.
Adding to the turmoil Sunday, hundreds of Islamic State families and supporters escaped from a holding camp in Syria during the fighting between Turkish forces and the Kurds.
The deteriorating situation was set in motion last week when Trump ordered U.S. troops in northern Syria to step aside, clearing the way for an attack by Turkey, which regards the Kurds as terrorists. Since 2014, the Kurds have fought alongside the U.S. in defeating the Islamic State in Syria, and Trump's move was decried at home and abroad as a betrayal of an ally.
Over the past five days, Turkish troops and their allies have pushed their way into northern towns and villages, clashing with the Kurdish fighters over a stretch of 125 miles. The offensive has displaced at least 130,000 people.
On Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said all American troops will withdraw from northern Syria because of the increasing danger of getting caught in the crossfire.
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"We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it's a very untenable situation," he said on CBS' Face the Nation. He did not say how many troops would withdraw or where they would go, but he did say they represent most of the 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria.
The peril to American forces was illustrated on Friday, when a small number of U.S. troops came under Turkish artillery fire at an observation post in the north. No Americans were hurt. Esper said it was unclear whether that was an accident.
Trump, in a tweet, said: "Very smart not to be involved in the intense fighting along the Turkish Border, for a change. Those that mistakenly got us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight. They have no idea what a bad decision they have made."
Critics say the U.S. has betrayed the Kurds by pulling back in the face of Turkey's invasion, but Esper said the administration was left with little choice once President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Trump a week ago that he was going ahead with a military offensive. Esper said the Kurds have been good partners, "but at the same time, we didn't sign up to fight the Turks on their behalf."
Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump is weakening America.
'To be clear, this administration's chaotic and haphazard approach to policy by tweet is endangering the lives of U.S. troops and civilians," Menendez said in a statement. "The only beneficiaries of this action are ISIS, Iran and Russia."
The leaders of France and Germany criticized Turkey's escalating offensive against the Kurds, calling for a halt and warning of painful consequences for Turkey and for their own security.
French President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency meeting of his security advisers Sunday evening, immediately after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris.
"This offensive must end, because the humanitarian consequences are grave and because the danger of the Islamic State becoming stronger is very significant," Merkel said next to Macron.
"We cannot further accept this situation against the Kurds. Another solution must absolutely be found," she said.
KURDS' DEAL
Kurdish officials announced Sunday that they will work with the Syrian government to fend off the Turks, deploying side by side along the border. Syrian TV said government troops were moving to the north to confront the Turkish invasion but gave no details.
The announcement by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that it had reached an agreement with the Iranian- and Russian-backed government of Assad further undermined the prospect of any continued U.S. presence in the country. The deal brings forces loyal to Assad back into towns and cities that have been under Kurdish control for seven years.
"An agreement has been reached with the Syrian government -- whose duty it is to protect the country's borders and preserve Syrian sovereignty -- for the Syrian Army to enter and deploy along the Syrian-Turkish border to help the [Syrian Democratic Forces] stop this aggression" by Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement.
The deal followed three days of negotiations brokered by Russia between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, which had reached the conclusion that it could no longer count on the United States, according to a Kurdish intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the news media.
It was not clear what Russia's role was in cementing the agreement. Syria is allied with Russia, and Turkey, though it is a NATO member, has drawn close to Moscow in recent years under Erdogan.
A return by Assad's forces to the region where Syrian Kurds have built up autonomy in the north would be a major shift in Syria's long-running civil war, further cementing Assad's hold over the ravaged country. Late Sunday, Syrian TV broadcast from the northern town of Hassakeh, where residents took to the streets to celebrate the announcement of cooperation between the Syrian government and the Kurds. Many of the residents vowed to defeat the Turkish invasion.
U.S. RESPONSE
The U.S. withdrawal leaves open the question of what happens to the Kurdish-run prisons and detention centers that hold thousands of Islamic State prisoners, including more than 2,000 foreign militants.
On Sunday, heavy fighting reached a Kurdish-run displaced-persons camp in Ein Eissa, about 20 miles south of the border, that is home to some 12,000 people, including about 1,000 wives and widows of Islamic State fighters and their children.
The Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria said in a statement that 785 Islamic State supporters escaped after attacking guards and storming the gates. It was not immediately possible to confirm that figure.
"It gets worse by the hour," Esper said of the fighting. "These are all the exact things" that U.S. officials warned Erdogan would probably happen in urging him not to invade, Esper said.
As the situation continued to evolve, U.S. officials planning a response focused on sanctions to be imposed against Turkey as early as today.
The administration believes that the sanctions -- and the knowledge that Turkey does not want to contend with the Syrian army or with Russia -- are the best weapons to persuade Turkey to "behave," a senior administration official said.
U.S. demands for the Turks include a cease-fire, as well as requests that they rein in their Syrian militias, treat people "well" and pull back to the border of a safe zone in Syria negotiated with the United States in recent weeks, the official said. That border was limited to 8.6 miles deep, with agreement that the Turks could conduct "patrols" up to the east-west highway about 20 miles from the Turkish border.
Erdogan on Sunday ruled out any mediation in the dispute with the Kurds, saying Turkey won't negotiate with "terrorists."
Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said Turkish-backed Syrian forces had advanced into the center of a Syrian border town, Tal Abyad, on the fifth day of Turkey's offensive. Turkey's Defense Ministry tweeted that its forces had taken control of the main highway running between Hassakeh, a major town and logistics hub, and Ein Eissa, the administrative center of the Kurdish-held areas.
Casualties mounted. On Sunday, at least nine people, including five civilians, were killed in Turkish airstrikes on a convoy in the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn, according to Syrian Kurdish officials and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war-monitoring group.
Images of the attack showed bodies and limbs strewn in the street. Some of those killed appeared to be carrying guns. Activists said the gunmen were guarding the convoy.
Turkey said 440 Kurdish fighters have been killed since the operation began Wednesday. The Syrian Democratic Forces said 56 of its fighters have died. Turkey also said four of its soldiers were killed, along with 16 allied Syrian fighters.
Information for this article was contributed by Lefteris Pitarakis, Sarah El Deeb and Robert Burns of The Associated Press; and by Michael Birnbaum, Liz Sly, Louisa Loveluck, Asser Khattab, Sarah Dadouch Karen DeYoung, Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan, Kareem Fahim and Zeynep Bilginsoy of The Washington Post.
A Section on 10/14/2019