Graham: Escalation against our allies in fight against ISIS will met with US response

Graham warned of what he described as a “concerning alignment” between Syria’s interim government and Turkey to use military force against the Kurds in Syria, stressing that the Kurds constitute the United States’ strongest ally in the ongoing fight to ensure the final defeat of ISIS mercenaries.

Graham’s remarks come amid continued crimes and violations against civilians in the Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh, and Bani Zaid neighborhoods of Aleppo, alongside ongoing military mobilization by mercenaries of Syria’s interim government, backed by the Turkish occupation, around the city of Deir Hafir, coupled with threats to launch an attack and the execution of heavy-weapons and drone strikes on the city, located in the countryside of Tabqa Canton.

In a post on his X account, Graham explained that Kurdish forces are currently overseeing the detention of around 9,000 of the most dangerous ISIS mercenaries, emphasizing that preventing their return to the battlefield is a vital interest of US national security. He said that “giving the new Syrian government a fair chance is possible, but any escalation in attacks against the Kurds by Turkey-backed Syrian forces would create an entirely new reality.”

The US senator noted that such escalation would be met with “broad and deep bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans” in the United States to confront it, firmly rejecting—along with his colleagues—the idea of transferring responsibility for guarding ISIS detainees from the Kurds to Syria’s interim government and Turkey, describing anyone who bets on such a scenario as “delusional.”

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