US: House votes to oppose Trump's Syria pullback

WASHINGTON

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Oct. 16 on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Donald Trump's decision to pull back troops in northern Syria.

The measure passed 354-60 with every Democrats and more than two-thirds of Republicans in favor.

Sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Republican Michael McCaul, the resolution "opposes the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations" in northeastern Syria.

The resolution urges Trump to restrain Turkey and offer a "clear and specific plan" for the defeat of the ISIL terror group.

Turkey began its long-planned military operation Oct. 9 to secure its borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity, two days after a telephone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Trump.

Then, the White House said the U.S. would not stand in front of Turkey and would withdraw its troops from the "immediate area" in northeastern Syria.

Trump's decision to pull back troops drew widespread backlash from Democrats and Republicans at home and abroad as well.

"Trump was 'very shaken up' by the result"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during an afternoon meeting with senior lawmakers that Trump was "very shaken up" by the 354-60 vote, which saw over two-thirds of House Republicans lend support to the bipartisan resolution.

During Trump's meeting with a group of two dozen bipartisan senior lawmakers from both chambers, the president called Pelosi a "third-rate politician" and engaged in personal attacks against Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said while addressing reporters.

"This was not a dialogue. It was sort of a diatribe, a nasty diatribe not focused on the facts," he said.

He along with Pelosi and House Majority leader Steny Hoyer walked out of the meeting before it concluded, the lawmakers said, because of Trump's attacks.

"This crisis required a rational, reasonable discussion between those of us who have been elected by the American people to set policy," he said. "Unfortunately, the meeting deteriorated into a diatribe as Leader Schumer has said, and very offensive accusations being made by the president of the United States."

Trump's decision to pull back troops from northern Syria, followed by his decision to withdraw completely, has drawn widespread bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have been weighing a series of responses.

The U.S.-backed SDF, a group dominated by the YPG, has been controlling some 28 percent of the Syrian territories, including the most of the 911-kilometer-long Syria-Turkey border.

Turkey deems the YPG the Syrian offshoot of the illegal PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization also by the United States and the EU.