The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill threatening fresh sanctions on Turkey to punish it for its offensive into north-east Syria, signalling continuing unhappiness with Ankara on Capitol Hill.
The bill, which threatens to freeze the assets of senior Turkish officials and ban arms transfers to Turkey, as well as threatening large Turkish banks with penalties, passed with 403 votes to 16.
The strong bipartisan support for the bill comes shortly after the Trump administration lifted a separate package of sanctions to reward Turkey for holding to a ceasefire agreement following its attacks on US-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria.
That agreement, brokered by Mike Pence, US vice-president, saw Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces promising to withdraw from an agreed 32km “safe zone” area near the Turkish border in exchange for a pause in the Turkish attack.
Turkey and Russia separately reached a deal to push the Kurdish forces away from the border and conduct joint patrols in the area, from which US troops have withdrawn.
Mr Trump has been criticised by US lawmakers, including members of his Republican party, for abandoning Washington’s local ally in Syria, and handing a strategic victory to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, and his two main foreign backers Russia and Iran.
Eliot Engel, the Democrat chair of the House foreign relations committee and a co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill, said the measures were “targeted, smart sanctions to incentivise Erdogan to stop his military offensive, cease violence against Syrian Kurdish communities, and withdraw from Syria”.
“President Trump has let Erdogan off scot-free for a heinous assault that is destabilising the region and threatening international security,” said Mr Engel. “President Trump and President Erdogan are responsible for the catastrophe in north-east Syria. They both must be held accountable.”
Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator who has sponsored a similar bill outlining sanctions measures to be taken against Ankara in the senate, said the House vote was an “awesome bipartisan takedown of Turkey’s invasion”.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Graham, who has been a vocal critic of Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria, said he expected the senate to “take up this cause and let Turkey unequivocally know that the United States will not sit on the sidelines as they create problems for us and our allies”.
The measure also has broad bipartisan support in the Senate.
The House bill also threatens to impose sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act — known by its acronym of Caatsa — to punish Ankara for its purchase of a Russian missile defence system despite US objections. The Trump administration has refrained from levying the sanctions, despite Ankara taking delivering of the Russian S-400 system.
The vote follows an earlier House resolution condemning Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from north-east Syria.
US officials have now said some troops will remain in the oil-rich regions of the north-east to protect oilfields from falling into the hands of Isis.
Mark Esper, the US secretary of defence, has confirmed that US forces remaining in Syria to carry out counter-terrorism operations would remain in “close contact” with Kurdish-backed forces.
