BICOM

What happened: The US House of Representatives is preparing new sanctions against Turkey as the Turkish armed forces, and their Syrian Arab allies, swept into north-east Syria yesterday, killing at least 23 Kurdish fighters and 11 civilians.

• 29 Republicans in the House of Representatives have announced legislation which would impose sanctions on Ankara. Congresswoman Liz Cheney said: “If Turkey wants to be treated like an ally, it must begin behaving like one. They must be sanctioned for their attacks on our Kurdish allies.” It comes the day after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham unveiled a new sanctions bill, along with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, for “severe sanctions” against Turkey.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Turkish military campaign and warned against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds. He said Israel is “prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the gallant Kurdish people”.
• US Secretary of State Mike Pompep said in an interview with PBS yesterday that Washington did not give Turkey “a green light” for a military offensive into Syria. He added: “They [Turkey] have a terrorist threat to their south. We’ve been working to make sure that we did what we could do to prevent that terror threat from striking the people in Turkey, while trying to achieve what is in America’s best interest: the threat from radical Islamic terrorism emanating from Syria.”
• Norway’s Foreign Minister said on Thursday that the country: “Will not handle any new demands for exports of defence material or material for multiple uses … to Turkey,” due to its military operation in Syria.​​​​​​​

• EU leaders are expected to discuss possible sanctions at the European Council meeting next week.

Context: Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state-run news agency, said that Turkish forces seized 11 villages clustered around two Kurdish-held border towns that stand about 75 miles apart. The invasion has been justified by President Erdogan to “prevent the creation of a terror corridor” on the border.

• The Rojava Information Centre said at least 11 civilians in Kurdish-held areas were killed and 28 wounded. The Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led group that fought ISIS with the US, responded by shelling several Turkish border towns, reportedly killing four civilians and wounding 70 more.
• The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based conflict monitor, said more than 60,000 Syrians in Kurdish-held territory have fled their homes since Wednesday, when Turkey began its military operation.
• The UN Security Council failed yesterday to agree a statement backed by five European members. “We are deeply concerned by the Turkish military operation in northeast Syria. We call upon Turkey to cease the unilateral military action as we do not believe it will address Turkey’s underlying security concerns,” the countries — France, Germany, Britain, Belgium and Poland — said.

Looking ahead: Turkey has said little about the likely duration of its military operation in Syria. The overall goal is to create a safe zone 480km along the Turkish-Syrian border, without the presence of Kurdish forces. However, strong resistance from the SDF and continued reprisals on Turkey’s side of the border might compel Turkish forces to speed up their invasion and push deeper into Syria than planned. If the conflict intensifies, there are fears of severe humanitarian consequences for Kurdish civilians as well as a weakening of Kurdish military forces providing an opportunity for ISIS forces to reorganise and re-emerge.