Trump leaves Turkey and Syria 'to argue it out', defends US pullout

WASHINGTON/ANKARA - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he had no problem if Russia helped Syria in a conflict with Turkey and rejected criticism of his withdrawal of US troops from Syria that exposed Kurdish allies, calling it"strategically brilliant."

Speaking to reporters as he met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the Oval Office and then later during a joint news conference, Trump said the Kurds were"not angels"and he said it might be necessary for Russian-backed Syria and Turkey to"fight it out." "Syria may have some help with Russia, and that's fine. It's a lot of sand," he later said."So you have Syria and you have Turkey. They're going to argue it out, maybe they're going to fight it out. But our men aren't going to get killed over it."

Trump dispatched some of his top aides to Turkey on Wednesday for emergency talks to try to persuade Ankara to halt an assault on northern Syria, while Russian troops swept into territory abandoned by US forces. Turkey's assault has spawned a humanitarian crisis, with 160,000 civilians taking flight, a security alert over thousands of Islamic State fighters abandoned in Kurdish jails, and a political maelstrom at home for Trump, accused by congressional leaders, including fellow Republicans, of betraying loyal US allies, the Kurds.

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