House condemns Donald Trump for Syria withdrawal

The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American troops from north-east Syria, even as the president argued that his actions had produced a "strategically brilliant" outcome.

With Mr Trump facing an avalanche of criticism, the House on Wednesday voted 354-60 in favour of the measure, as 129 Republicans joined with all 225 Democrats in an unusually bipartisan demonstration of disapproval.

The opposition to the withdrawal has sparked one of the biggest crises of the Trump presidency. Lawmakers and foreign policy experts have accused him of paving the way for Turkey to last week launch a military attack in Syria against the Kurdish fighters who have lost an estimated 11,000 lives in the US-backed fight against Isis.

The escalating Syria crisis comes as Mr Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in the House. Underscoring the tensions, Democratic members of Congress walked out of a meeting with Mr Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon after he told Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House, that she was a "third-rate" politician.

Speaking outside the White House Ms Pelosi said Mr Trump was having a "meltdown". The encounter was their first meeting since Ms Pelosi launched the impeachment investigation.

Mr Trump later tweeted a photo of the White House meeting with the caption: "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!"

The US president also faced fierce criticism from his own party. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader who is normally a staunch ally of the president, said Mr Trump had made a "mistake" but there was "no evidence" he was prepared to change course.

"I hope it's not too late to stop this [Turkish] aggression," Mr McConnell said.

Speaking at a press conference earlier on Wednesday with Sergio Mattarella, Italian president, Mr Trump denied he had given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tacit approval for the military campaign during a phone call on October 6.

Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!

US President Donald Trump, in a letter to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

"He was never given a green light. They've been wanting to do that for years," Mr Trump said.

In an effort to defend his actions, Mr Trump said he had written to Mr Erdogan to warn him about the consequences of invading Syria. But the letter was dated October 9 - the day Turkey launched the military operation.

"Let's work out a good deal!" Mr Trump wrote. "You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy - and I will."

Mr Trump said history would look "favourably" on Mr Erdogan if he proceeded the "humane" way but would " look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen".

"Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!" the US president wrote in conclusion.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he had removed US troops from harm's way as Mr Erdogan proceeded with a campaign that the US had no power to stop.

"I view the situation on the Turkish border with Syria to be . . . strategically brilliant," said Mr Trump, adding that the conflict in the region had "nothing to do with us".

In a comment that sparked more criticism from fellow Republicans, Mr Trump faulted America's Kurdish allies. "The Kurds . . . are not angels," he said.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican ally of Mr Trump, told the president that it was "time for you to act like Ronald Reagan, not [Barack] Obama. You need to up your game."

Mr Trump hit back, saying Mr Graham and some of his own team were trying to restrain his desire to remove the US from "endless wars", including the conflict in Syria, 7,000 miles from Washington.

"Lindsey Graham would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers . . . fighting other people's wars. I want to get out of the Middle East," Mr Trump said.

"We were supposed to be in Syria for one month. That was 10 years ago and we've been a police force," the president added.

US officials have argued that Turkey, a fellow Nato member, was intent on the operation against Kurdish forces in Syria, which it views as terrorists, and that it was prudent to remove US troops to ensure they would not be caught in the conflict.

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"Do people want us to start shooting at a Nato member? That would be a first," Mr Trump said.

As Mr Trump was defending his policy, Mike Pence, US vice-president, was preparing to fly to Ankara to persuade Turkey to halt its military incursion into Syria. Mr Pence's delegation was to include Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, and Robert O'Brien, the US national security adviser, who was set to arrive in Turkey on Wednesday.

"We need them to stand down, we need a ceasefire, at which point we can begin to put this all back together again," Mr Pompeo told Fox News.

Mr Pompeo stressed that the US had placed sanctions on Turkish officials this week in an effort to persuade Mr Erdogan to reverse course, but said the US wanted to preserve relations with Ankara.

"Our goal here isn't to break the relationship with Turkey," Mr Pompeo told the television network. "Our goal . . . is to deny Turkey the capacity to continue to engage in this behaviour."