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Trump Claims Credit for a Syria Cease-Fire to Be Enforced by Turkey and Russia

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WASHINGTON — President Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States has brokered a permanent cease-fire in northeast Syria, taking credit for a tentative deal that will be enforced by Turkey and Russia, and lifting sanctions he had imposed after Turkey invaded Kurdish-run areas south of its border.

The president cast the announcement as a triumph of diplomacy. But even many leading Republicans have decried the American retreat from Syria — which allowed the Turkish invasion into northeast Syria earlier this month — as a foreign policy debacle.

“Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand,” Mr. Trump said from the Diplomatic Room at the White House, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the White House national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. All three went to Ankara, the Turkish capital, last week to negotiate a pause in the fighting between Turkish forces and the Kurds.

But on Tuesday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia committed his military to joint security patrols with Turkish forces to enforce the cease-fire in northern Syria. Those patrols are part of an effort by Turkey and Russia to force Kurdish fighters from areas they had controlled in Syria, after American forces withdrew this month on Mr. Trump’s order.

“Others have come out to help and we welcomed them to do so; other countries have stepped forward,” Mr. Trump said, appearing to refer to the hours of negotiations in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday between Mr. Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. “They want to help and we think that’s great.”

He made no apology for an accompanying withdrawal of American troops from the area, which left their Kurdish allies facing the Turkish assault. Mr. Trump also said he would lift sanctions he imposed on Turkey, including steel tariffs, after the country invaded northeastern Syria on October 9.

“The government of Turkey informed my administration that they would be stopping combat and their offensive in Syria, and making the cease-fire permanent,” he said.

The Treasury Department said on Wednesday that it was removing the sanctions that it imposed earlier this month on Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, along with the minister of national defense, minister of energy and natural resources, and minister of the interior.

“As a result of the cease-fire, and at the direction of President Donald J. Trump, Treasury is delisting two Turkish ministries and three of the country’s senior officials,” said Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The Treasury Department statement did not mention the increased tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on Turkish steel at the same time the United States announced the sanctions on Oct. 14. Mr. Trump said at the time that steel tariffs on Turkey would rise to 50 percent from 25 percent.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly sought to portray this month’s events along the Syrian-Turkish border as a victory, despite widespread anger within the American military, the diplomatic corps and even among some of his most steadfast conservative allies.

The crisis erupted after Mr. Erdogan told Mr. Trump in an Oct. 6 phone call that he intended to invade northeastern Syria. Mr. Trump withdrew several dozen American troops in the region to clear them from harm’s way, effectively giving Turkey a green light for the incursion. Mr. Trump’s decision blindsided many senior administration officials.

Mr. Trump seemed to reject the idea of Russian influence. “This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else,” he said. “No other nation. Very simple.”

Mr. Erdogan has said he was creating a buffer zone to prevent Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom he ties to anti-Turk terrorists, from threatening Turkey’s territory. He has also said that he wants to create a “safe zone” in which Turkey can resettle some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees who poured into Turkey as a result of Syria’s bloody civil war.

Alan Rappeport contributed reporting.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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