Graham vows ‘sanctions from hell’ if Turkey moves into Syria

Turkish officials told Reuters on Tuesday that their military on Monday night bombed the Syria-Iraq border to prevent the Kurds from using the transit route to fortify their positions in the area. A security official said the intention was to cut off the road “before the operation in Syria.”

 

{mosads}“In this way, the group’s transit to Syria and support lines, including ammunition, are shut off,” the official said.

The move comes after the White House announced on Sunday night that Ankara was moving forward with a long-threatened offensive in northeastern Syria and that U.S. troops would not be in the “immediate area” when it happens.

Graham, along with most lawmakers for both parties, panned that decision, calling it a “disaster in the making.” During a Monday interview with Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” he pledged that he would work to slap new sanctions on Turkey if “they step one foot inside Syria.” 

“I hope I’m making myself clear how shortsighted and irresponsible this decision is in my view,” he said. “This to me is just unnerving to its core.” 

“So many people conveniently forget that Turkey is a big trading partner of the United States, in fact they make the structural steel frame for our F-35 Fighter Jet,” Trump tweeted. “They have also been good to deal with, helping me to save many lives at Idlib Province, and returning, in very good health, at my request, Pastor Brunson, who had many years of a long prison term remaining.”