13
NEWS
TICKER
Protests ahead
of Bolivian
election
Hundreds of thousands
of people marched
in protest against
left-wing Bolivian
President Evo
Morales, calling for
a stronger response
to recent forest fires
in the country. With
elections scheduled
for Oct. 20, polls
show Morales may
be forced into a
runoff vote against a
right-wing rival.
School
districts sue
Juul
Three school districts
across the U.S. sued
Juul on Oct. 7, saying
the e-cigarette maker
marketed its devices
to children and left
districts with the
resulting costs. Facing
a public backlash
over vaping health
concerns, Juul’s CEO
stepped down on
Sept. 25, and the
company suspended
all U.S. advertising.
U.S. diplomat’s
wife flees U.K.
after crash
On Oct. 7, British
Prime Minister Boris
Johnson called for Anne
Sacoolas, wife of a U.S.
diplomat, to return to
Britain for questioning
about a crash between
the car she was
allegedly driving and
a motorcyclist, Harry
Dunn, 19, who was
killed. Johnson said he
would raise the issue
with President Trump.
in a maJor shifT in u.s. foreign Policy,
President Donald Trump ordered troops
to vacate part of northeast Syria on Oct. 6,
making way for a Turkish military opera-
tion against the Kurdish forces that control
the region. Defending his decision, Trump
said it was “time for us to get out” and let
others “figure the situation out.” But crit-
ics accused the President of abandoning the
Kurds, U.S. allies whose forces were pivotal
in the battle to defeat ISIS in Syria.
REPUBLICAN REBELLION Lawmakers in
Trump’s own party criticized the Presi-
dent’s unexpected move. “We have sent the
most dangerous signal possible—America is
an unreliable ally,” said Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close
confidant of Trump’s. His fellow GOP Sena-
tors Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney high-
lighted the risks of ceding influence to Iran,
whose proxy forces support Bashar Assad’s
regime, and Senate majority leader Mitch
McConnell, a Trump loyalist, urged him
to use “American leadership” and reverse
course. Trump stuck by his decision, tweet-
ing that he would instead apply economic
pressure if Turkey crossed any lines.
KURDS PLAYED The Syrian Democratic
Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-led group that
allied with the U.S. to fight ISIS, called
Trump’s decision a “stab in the back” and
said they would defend their land “at all
costs.” The SDF’s political wing said there
would be “chaos once again” in Syria. An-
kara views the main Kurdish militia within
the SDF as indistinguishable from the mili-
tant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has
fought a long insurgency against Turkey.
PRISONER SWAP Turkey’s President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan has long lobbied for what
on Oct. 9 became his country’s third incur-
sion into Syrian territory since 2016. But
Trump also said Turkey would assume re-
sponsibility for ISIS prisoners in Syria, wor-
rying counterterrorism officials worldwide.
The SDF controls over 24 detention facili-
ties that hold 10,000 ISIS detainees, and a
camp for 70,000 internally displaced peo-
ple, including thousands of ISIS support-
ers. Turkey’s former foreign minister Yasar
Yakis said oversight of ISIS detainees would
be a “nightmare” for Ankara, and could pro-
voke sleeper cells in Turkey to “wake up
and wreak havoc.” —madeline roache
THE BULLETIN
Trump retreats ahead of Turkish
operation against U.S. allies in Syria
Smoke rises over Ras al-Ayn, Syria, on Oct. 9, after Turkey launched “Operation Peace
Spring” against the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia
OPENING PAGE: THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX; THESE PAGES: PENCE: GETTY IMAGES; SYRIA: KEREM KOCALAR—ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
