U.S. Officials Are Worried About Turkey Foray Into Syria by Gordon Lubold and Nancy A. Youssef – Wall Street Journal
U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that Turkey soon will mount a major incursion into northern Syria and trigger a clash with Kurdish fighters, an action that would likely prompt the Trump administration to remove American forces from Syria to avoid the conflict.
Because a U.S. pullout would essentially end the fight against Islamic State there, it could set back ongoing efforts to undercut the group, which lost its so-called caliphate but remains what many U.S. officials consider a viable terrorist network that still can stage attacks against the U.S. and its allies and interests.
Both Turkey and the Kurds are allies of the U.S. but are longtime enemies of one another. Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, views the Kurdish military organization in Syria as a terrorist group. However, U.S. officials say Kurdish fighters have been instrumental to U.S. success in defeating Islamic State across Syria…