https://www.axios.com/syria-troop-withdrawal-trump-allies-kurds-d0686854-ff4b-468e-b012-8effbae49609.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100


A Syrian Kurdish woman waves the flag of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) during a demonstration against Turkish threats in Syria near the Turkish border. (Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)

Jonathan Swan, Margaret Talev
5 mins ago

President Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. military from northern Syria — abandoning the Kurds to what many believe will be slaughter at the hands of Turkey — is shaking the already fragile situation with Republicans who have been defending him.

Why it matters: Key senators Trump counts on to have his back on impeachment and make the case for him on TV — chiefly, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio — are horrified by the withdrawal and have attacked the president's move in strategic and moral terms. Trump did not read them in on his decision, and they're reacting furiously just when he may need them most.

Rubio tweeted this stark condemnation: "We degraded ISIS using Kurd’s [sic] as the ground force. Now we have abandoned them & they face annihilation at the hands of the Turkish military... ISIS could now be reinvigorated when 1000’s of jailed fighters break out when the Kurdish guards are forced to leave to go fight Turkey"

Graham went on Trump's favorite morning show, Fox & Friends, to express his horror: "This to me is just unnerving to its core. To say to the American people that ISIS has been destroyed in Syria is just not true."

Another Republican lawmaker tells Axios that while it's in Trump's strategic interest to improve U.S.-Turkey relations that slid during Barack Obama's presidency, there could be significant global security risks if tens of thousands of ISIS fighters and refugees in detention camps guarded by Kurdish forces get out.

It's not clear what happens to the camps if Turkey attacks the Kurds and the situation could become a "sh*tshow," the lawmaker said.

"This could be a real problem for [Trump]," said a former senior administration official. "It's adding to the sense of what the f--- is going on?"

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