U.S., Turkey agree on temporary cease-fire in northern Syria

The United States and Turkey have agreed to a temporary cease-fire in northern Syria that gives Kurdish fighters five days to leave the area, with President Trump lauding the deal as “a great day for civilization” even as it appears to favor Turkish interests in the region.

“This is a great day for civilization,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “I am proud of the United States for sticking by me in following a necessary, but somewhat unconventional, path. People have been trying to make this ‘Deal’ for many years. Millions of lives will be saved. Congratulations to ALL!”

Vice President Mike Pence, who negotiated with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he aimed to end the violence caused by Turkey’s invasion of Syria. The Turks and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria last week, two days after Trump abruptly announced he was withdrawing U.S. troops from the region.

The deal reached Thursday temporarily halts Turkey’s operations in Syria until Kurdish forces withdraw roughly 20 miles from the Turkish border, and gives the Turks relief from the Trump administration’s sanctions.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, reportedly called the agreement a “pause” and not a cease-fire.

Hussein Ibish, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C., said the agreement “pretty much serves everybody’s immediate purposes, although how much it will accomplish remains to be seen.”

The deal helps the U.S. “mitigate the extreme embarrassment of the president’s rash and inexplicable decision to cut tail and run from Syria,” and could help Kurdish forces “avoid a devastating defeat at the Turkish hands,” Ibish said.

He said the agreement could also allow the Turks to “achieve their main and most important goals in northern Syria, the establishment of a ‘safe zone’ into which they can push vast numbers of refugees, and the breaking up and dispersal of the Kurdish mini-state in northern Syria with much less loss of life and much less diplomatic damage.”

Kurdish forces were reportedly not involved in the deal, but Pence said the U.S. had “repeated assurances from them that they’ll be moving out.”

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said in a statement, “Preventing our allies from being slaughtered by our commander in chief’s foreign policy blunders is nothing to celebrate — it should be the bare minimum. … Our Kurdish allies who have paid a heavy price to protect us from ISIS get nothing from this deal except a long march out of their homes and cities after being bombarded and attacked for a week.”

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said, “The cease-fire does not change the fact that America has abandoned an ally, adding insult to dishonor.”