Two senators, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, are threatening to impose a raft of sanctions on our treaty ally Turkey unless it comes to a “sustained ceasefire” with the American-backed Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces now parked in northeastern Syria. Those terms would also include a demilitarized zone. 

“In the wake of the Assad regime’s fall, Turkish-backed forces have ramped up attacks against our Syrian Kurdish partners, once again threatening the vital mission of preventing the resurgence of ISIS,” the senators wrote this week. They added that “While Turkey has some legitimate security concerns that can be addressed, these developments are undermining regional security, and the United States cannot sit idly by.”