US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, has called on the US government to prevent possible threats from Turkey and an alliance of rebel groups that have ended the years-long rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Kurdish militant groups in Syria, warning that such a move could jeopardize US interests.
“We should not allow the Kurdish forces — who helped us destroy ISIS on President [Donald] Trump’s watch — to be threatened by Turkey or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria,” he said on X on Monday.
I appreciate the air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, but it will not be enough. We have to ensure that the roughly 50,000 ISIS prisoners in northeastern Syria — being primarily held by Kurdish forces — are not released.
We should not allow the Kurdish forces — who helped…
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 9, 2024
Graham said Turkey has legitimate concerns regarding different groups that reside in northeastern Syria, but if there is a conflict between Turkey and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) or if Turkey attacks Kurdish forces, it will set in motion a “jailbreak” of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), which he said would be a nightmare for America.
He said the last time ISIS was in charge, thousands of Europeans and Americans were killed by ISIS plots that originated in Syria and that the possible re-emergence of ISIS creates chaos throughout the Middle East region, which is likely to lead to higher gas prices for Americans.
US backed Kurdish groups in Syria such as the SDF and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) are seen as terrorist groups by Turkey and offshoots of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuses them of threatening Syria’s territorial integrity.
The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias formed in 2015, played a key role in eroding ISIS’s hold on large swaths of territory in Syria, including the terrorist group’s self-proclaimed Syrian capital of Raqqa.
“Turkey deserves to have a demilitarized buffer zone between northeastern Syria and Turkey to protect Turkish interests. However, if Turkey takes military action against Kurdish forces in Syria, it will jeopardize America’s interests dramatically,” Graham warned.
US officials insisted following the announcement of the Assad regime on Sunday that there are no plans to alter the US military footprint in Syria, which includes some 900 troops, most of them working in the country’s northeast with the SDF.
The senator also recalled that he had drafted sanctions in the past targeting Turkey if it engaged in military operations against the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS and that he is ready to take the same action again in a bipartisan way.
Graham was one of Trump’s strongest critics when he decided in October 2019 to withdraw US troops from Syria, describing his decision as “shortsighted and irresponsible.” The move marked a major shift in US foreign policy, effectively giving Turkey the green light to attack US-backed Kurdish forces.
Manbij taken back from SDF
Graham’s remarks came on the same day that Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups took control of the northern Syrian town of Manbij from the SDF, according to what a Turkish security source told Reuters.
The SDF had been holding the town in recent days amid intense fighting with the Syrian National Army (SNA) and other Turkey-backed groups.
A video, verified by Reuters, showed opposition forces being welcomed by people in Manbij, which is some 30 km (19 miles) south of the Turkish border and west of the Euphrates River.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that the area is being searched for possible landmines and traps left behind by the Kurdish militia.
A Syrian opposition source told Reuters on Monday that the the United States and Turkey reached an agreement to ensure the safe withdrawal of SDF forces from Manbij.
The Kurdish fighters “have withdrawn from the city and still need to withdraw from the other areas” east of Manbij, said the Syrian opposition source familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Monday the killing of 11 civilians, including six children, all members of the same family, in a Turkish drone strike targeting a house near Ain Issa, north of the city of Raqaa, in a Kurdish-held area.
On Sunday the Britain-based observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, also said at least 26 combatants were killed as Turkey-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive on Manbij.