(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump has given Turkey the nod to begin its long-threatened occupation of a strip of northern Syria, but he’s also handed it a poisoned chalice: Responsibility for thousands of so-called Islamic State jihadists and their relatives detained by Kurdish forces. Securing or perhaps even rehabilitating the IS recruits, many of them foreigners who joined the caliphate’s ranks during its rapid expansion from 2014, will become a Turkish problem once in Syrian territory, and it’s one Ankara may be ill-prepared to handle. “Turkey’s facing the threat of becoming the guardian of thousands of jihadists that no one wants in the world,” said Nihat Ali Ozcan, a strategist at the Economic Policy Research Foundation in Ankara. “That is a serious responsibility and burden on Turkey’s military and economy, in addition to rolling back the gains of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.” Trump’s rapid about-turn on Syria will also reignite concerns among European leaders who have expressed concern that a U.S. departure would spark a resurgence of Islamic State, and perhaps the return of radicalized jihadists. Blunt Warning The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — the foe Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is determined to drive from the border region — were… Read full this story
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