This week: House to vote on Turkey sanctions bill

[Right_in_Virginia]

This week: House to vote on Turkey sanctions bill
The Hill, Oct 28, 2019

The House is set to take up additional sanctions against Turkey this week in response to Ankara’s invasion of northern Syria.

The vote comes in the wake of a cease-fire agreement, under which the Trump administration agreed to drop its own recent sanctions.

But lawmakers have been weighing how to respond to President Trump’s decision to pull back troops in northern Syria, and Ankara’s subsequent invasion. 

The legislation, spearheaded by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel  (D-N.Y.) and the panel's top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), would sanction officials involved in Ankara’s offensive and banks involved in the defense sector until Turkey ends its military operations in Syria.


More:  https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/scheduling/467677-this-week-house-to-vote-on-turkey-sanctions-bill

[Right_in_Virginia]

Congress really needs to catch-up; and the staff reporters at The Hill need to talk to each other.

Syrian Kurds say they are withdrawing from area near Turkish border
The Hill, Oct 27, 2019

Syrian Kurds announced on Sunday that their forces are leaving the Turkish border area, Reuters reported.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made this announcement after Turkey and Russia came to an agreement last week under which Syrian guards and Russia military police would patrol a 19-mile zone along Syria’s border with Turkey. The countries gave the SDF until Tuesday to retreat, Reuters noted.

“The SDF is redeploying to new positions away from the Turkish-Syrian border across northeast Syria in accordance with the terms of the (Erdogan-Putin) agreement in order to stop the bloodshed and to protect the inhabitants of the region from Turkish attacks,” the SDF said in a statement, according to the news service.

The SDF also implored Russia to help make sure “a constructive dialogue” takes place between the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria and the Syrian government run by President Bashar al-Assad.

For the first time in years, Assad’s troops will be able to return to the border areas, Reuters noted.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Assad’s government accepted the SDF retreat, saying it gets rid of “the main pretext for flagrant Turkish aggression on (Syrian) territory,” according to Reuters.

The Syrian government plans to assist residents reach “a return to Syrian national unity,” SANA added.


More:  https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/467647-syrian-kurds-say-they-are-withdrawing-from-area