Donald Trump: Turkish military action on Syrian Kurds is not America’s fight

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Emma Murphy

Donald Trump has said the fighting which has broken out in northern Syria since he ordered American troops to step back from Kurdish areas is nothing to do with the US.

Instead, the President said things are "very nicely under control" in the region where the UN estimates more than 160,000 people have fled their homes in the last few days.

Mr Trump downplayed the crisis that followed his decision to pull out of Syria, which critics say amounted to giving Turkey a green light to invade Syria’s north-east, where it has been attacking Kurdish fighters whom Turkey views as terrorists.

“It’s not between Turkey and the United States, like a lot of stupid people would like you to believe,” Mr Trump said, adding that he is more than willing to let adversaries fight it out in that area of the Middle East.

“They’ve got a lot of sand over there,” he said.

“So there’s a lot of sand that they can play with.”

As for the Kurds, whom Mr Trump has been criticised for abandoning, he said: “Syria’s friendly with the Kurds.

"The Kurds are very well protected.

"Plus, they know how to fight.

"And, by the way, they’re no angels.”

Turkey is continuing its advance into Syria. Credit: AP

President Trump continued that US troops are “largely out” of a region of Syria where Turkish forces are attacking the Kurdish fighters who were America’s allies in fighting the so-called Islamic State group.

However, a US official familiar with planning for the withdrawal of the approximately 1,000 troops in north-eastern Syria said that while the soldiers are consolidating on to two main bases, they have not yet begun flying out of Syria in significant numbers.

Military equipment is being gathered and flown out, the official said.

“Our soldiers are not in harm’s way, as they shouldn’t be," Mr Trump said.

He answered reporters’ questions as he met at the White House with Italian president Sergio Mattarella.

Turkey launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters allied with the United States after Mr Trump pulled troops from the region earlier this month.

Recip Tayyip Erdogan has refused to stop the military action. Credit: AP

His decision was strongly condemned in the US — including by usual Republican allies in Congress — and around the world as contributing to regional instability and the abandonment of an ally.

He noted that Syria was getting “some help with Russia and that’s fine”.

“If Russia wants to get involved with Syria, that’s really up to them,” he said.

“It’s not our border. We shouldn’t be losing lives over it.”

Mr Trump imposed new sanctions on Turkey this week in an attempt to force President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end his assault.

Mr Trump is also sending a delegation led by vice president Mike Pence to Turkey to meet with Mr Erdogan in an attempt to help negotiate a cease-fire.

Mr Trump said the US should not be involved in “endless wars” in the Middle East and “it’s time for us to come home”.

The president said that if Syria wants to fight over land that does not belong to the US, “that’s up to them and Turkey”.

Even as Mr Trump defended his removal of US troops from north-eastern Syria, he praised his decision to send more troops and military equipment to Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom defend against Iran.

Trump said the US is sending missiles and “great power” to the Saudis, and “they’re paying for that”.