Senator Rounds comments on Middle East issues
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HURON – A ceasefire that stops Turkey from further incursion into northern Syria is welcome news while a more permanent solution is negotiated, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said Thursday.
A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he was provided with a classified briefing on what’s going on in the region and is limited in what he can disclose, he said in a conference call with reporters.
But he said he was concerned about Turkey’s incursion into Syria and military actions against the Kurds, who were partners with the United States in battling ISIS.
“The ISIS problem is not gone completely,” he said. “Clearly we have shut down their caliphate.”
Still, the Kurds had been holding more than 12,000 ISIS fighters who had been on the battlefield, and instability could mean many have or will escape captivity.
Rounds said there is ongoing communication between the U.S. Army forces and Turkish army forces, and there is still a working relationship with the Kurdish fighters as well.
While he couldn’t be specific, he said the strategy is in response to what other countries are doing in the region.
On Wednesday, the House voted 354 to 60 to condemn the White House for abandoning Kurdish allies in Syria. Voting with the majority was Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.