'It's Not Our Border' -- Trump Says Turkish Incursion Into Syria Of No Concern To US

President Trump defended his decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria Wednesday and said Turkey’s attacks against Syrian Kurds are of no concern to the United States since “it’s not our border.”

“The Kurds know how to fight, and, as I said, they’re not angels, they’re not angels,” he said.

A short time later, the House approved a resolution 354-60 to condemn Trump's decision. The resolution is largely symbolic.

Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after meeting with Italy’s president, dismissed outrage from critics over his decision to pull U.S. troops from northern Syria, opening the way for Turkey to move into the area and attack the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, who fought alongside U.S. troops against the Islamic State group. Turkey sees the Syrian Kurds as aligned with Kurdish separatists in Turkey.

“It’s not our border. We shouldn’t be losing lives over it,” Trump said, adding he’s OK with the Kurds shifting their allegiance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia.

“Syria may have some help with Russia and that’s fine,” Trump said. “It’s a lot of sand. They’ve got a lot of sand over there, so there’s a lot of sand they can play with.”

Trump said his handling of the situation has been “strategically brilliant” and dismissed concerns over Russian influence.

Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Robert C. O’Brien, the new White House national security adviser, were scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to try to convince him to end the offensive.

“He needs to stop the incursion into Syria,” Pompeo said of the Turkish president. “We need a cease-fire, at which point we can begin to put this all back together again.”

Turkey so far has rebuffed pressure to pull back and demanded Turkish fighters lay down their arms.

“Nobody can stop us,” Erdogan said, saying his troops intend to establish a buffer zone 20 miles into Syrian territory.

Trump earlier this week announced sanctions against Turkish officials.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said this is a defining moment of Trump’s presidency. He said this could be worse than President Obama’s decision to leave Iraq and could have a severe impact on future efforts to gain allies in the fight against terrorism.

“I fear this is a complete and utter national security disaster in the making and I hope President Trump will adjust his thinking,” Graham tweeted.

GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Mitt Romney of Utah urged Trump to revoke an invitation to Erdogan to visit the White House.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said Turkey should be expelled from NATO over its actions.