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Turkey Sanctions Can’t Undo the Syria Blunder
The Trump administration hit two Turkish ministries and three senior officials with sanctions on October 14 after Turkey’s military operation in northeast Syria deepened the chaos Trump had unleashed by pulling U.S. forces back. The move was meant to signal consequences, but it also underscored how badly the White House had mismanaged the sequence: first abandon the Kurdish-led allies on the ground, then rush in with sanctions after the damage was already done. The episode left the administration facing criticism from both parties, humanitarian alarms, and fresh warnings that the anti-ISIS mission had been compromised.