WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump defended his actions in Syria Wednesday as “strategically brilliant,” disparaging the Kurdish allies he abandoned in the face of a Turkish offensive as “not angels. Trump has come under intense criticism for effectively giving Turkey a green light to invade northern Syria, but he dismissed those concerns in comments to White House reporters. He spoke as Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prepared to travel to Turkey to try to persuade President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to halt the offensive. But Trump emphasized that US troops were out of harm´s way and that the fallout from the abrupt US withdrawal was for Syria, Turkey and Russia to work out among themselves. “I view the situation on the Turkish border with Syria to be, for the United States, strategically brilliant,” Trump said, alongside visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarelli.
