Turkey dismisses US threats, amasses troops on Syrian border

Turkey said Tuesday it will go ahead with a military operation in northeastern Syria and won't bow to threats over its Syria plans, an apparent reply to U.S. President Donald Trump's warning.

Trump said earlier this week the United States would step aside for an expected Turkish attack on Syrian Kurdish fighters, who have fought alongside Americans for years. But he then threatened to "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey's economy if they went too far.

The U.S. president later cast his decision to pull back U.S. troops from parts of northeast Syria as fulfilling a campaign promise to withdraw from "endless war" in the Middle East. Republican critics and others said he was sacrificing a U.S. ally, the Syrian Kurds, and undermining American credibility.

Trump's statements have reverberated on all sides of the divide in Syria and the Mideast.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkey-dismisses-us-threats-amasses-troops-on-syrian-border/ar-AAIsPhs?li=BBnb7Kz