We’ll leave ‘blood-stained’ ME

President Donald Trump has ended sanctions against Turkey, drawing a line under American involvement in “blood-stained” Syria, as Turkish and Russian troops seized territory previously held by US troops and their beleaguered Kurdish allies.

Trump spoke on Wednesday in a special address from the White House and declared a change of course in US relations with the Middle East, where he said too many American service members had died.

“We’re getting out. Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand. The job of our military is not to police the world,” the US president said.

Trump has been under fire for abruptly withdrawing US troops from northern Syria, with many accusing him of abandoning Kurdish forces, who had been one of the US’s main allies in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS).

“Other nations must step up and do their fair share,” said Trump of conflict in the region. “We have spent $8 trillion on wars in the Middle East, never really wanting to win those wars,” he added.

It was unclear when American troops in the region would begin returning home. Hundreds previously deployed in Syria are now based in western Iraq.

Trump also said some forces would remain in Syria’s oil fields despite the broader US withdrawal from the country.

Following the pullout, Turkey launched an offensive against Kurdish fighters in the region. Last week, Turkey agreed to a five-day ceasefire to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from the border area.

Meanwhile, Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria left several positions along the long border with Turkey yesterday, complying with a deal that sees Damascus, Ankara and Moscow carve up their now-defunct autonomous region.

Russian forces have started patrols along the flashpoint border, filling the vacuum left by a US troop withdrawal that effectively handed back a third of the country to the Moscow-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Some 300,000 people have fled their homes since the start of the Turkish offensive and the Kurds among them seem unlikely to return.

Trump said he was lifting the sanctions because a ceasefire was holding in the area.

Rejecting accusations that he betrayed the Syrian Kurds -- who suffered thousands of casualties fighting alongside US troops against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group -- Trump said they were happy.

The president said the Kurdish commander in the country, Mazloum Abdi, had just told him he was “extremely thankful.”

Accused both by Republicans and Democrats of abandoning the Kurds, Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey on October 14 and sent a delegation to persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to order a brief ceasefire.

Critics of Trump say he has caved in to Turkey and been outplayed by Russia.

“It is unthinkable that Turkey would not suffer consequences for malevolent behavior which was contrary to the interests of the United States and our friends,” tweeted Republican Senator Mitt Romney.

But Trump insisted that the power shift is a win for Washington, because he is fulfilling a campaign promise to step away from “ancient sectarian and tribal conflicts.”

And US Defense Secretary Mark Esper yesterday warned that Turkey was “heading in the wrong direction” with its incursion into Syria and its deal with Russia to jointly patrol a “safe zone” there.