Republican and DemocraticU.S. senators asked President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday to letthem know – and to respond with touch sanctions – if reports are true thatTurkey is violating a ceasefire agreement in Syria.
"Given the stakes,time is of the essence," Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and MarshaBlackburn and Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen, Richard Blumenthal andJeanne Shaheen wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Those senators have beenamong the loudest voices in the U.S. Congress lamenting Trump's decision towithdraw U.S. forces from much of Syria, which many see as abandoning Kurdishforces who fought for years alongside U.S. troops as they battled Islamic Statemilitants.
In the letter, the senatorscited reports that Turkish forces are operating outside an agreed-upon"safe zone" in northeastern Syria, and that Turkish or Turkish-backedforces are attacking Syrian Kurds near Tal Tamr.
