Trump Declares Victory In Syria: 'Let Someone Else Fight Over This Long Blood-Stained Land'

Saying it’s time for “someone else [to] fight over this long blood-stained sand, President Trump on Wednesday hailed his Syrian strategy, saying it has ended centuries of conflict and saved “countless lives.”

Trump noted he achieved a “major breakthrough to achieving a better future for Syria and the Middle East” without spilling any American blood two weeks after he announced he was pulling U.S. troops from the area, allowing Turkey to cross its border with Syria to oust Kurdish fighters who were instrumental in toppling the Islamic State group and its self-declared caliphate.

Trump’s remarks followed an agreement Tuesday between Turkey and Russia on ending Turkey’s incursion and providing for Syrian and Russian forces to take over a 20-mile "safe zone."

“Let someone else fight over this long blood-stained sand,” Trump told reporters, adding, “Countless lives are now being saved as a result of our negotiations with Turkey."

On Twitter, Trump earlier boasted of “big success on the Turkey/Syria border,” saying the ceasefire negotiated by Vice President Mike Pence last week has held and “Kurds are safe and … ISIS prisoners secured.”

Turkey launched an offensive two weeks ago after Trump announced he was pulling U.S. troops from Syria in what many criticized as a betrayal of the Kurds.

But Trump argued the U.S. had no business in stationing troops in the area, saying U.S. forces should be deployed overseas only when U.S. interests are threatened and "we have a clear plan of victory."

Ankara considers the Syrian Kurds terrorists, allied with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting for decades to win an independent homeland in southeast Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan long had criticized the U.S. alliance with the Kurds, and Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops from the border area followed a phone call with Erdogan.

Erdogan made a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday and ended his push south. The Turkish Defense Ministry said Turkish troops would move no further than the 900 square miles they already have seized from Kurdish control.

Syrian government forces have started deploying into parts of the region for the first time in five years, Syrian state media reported. Russian troops also are in the area. The Russian Defense Ministry said military police units would patrol a 6-mile swath along the border, the state-controlled Tass news agency reported.

Trump said he had spoken with the Kurdish chief of staff, Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi, who he said expressed his thanks "for what America has done."

"The agreement could not have been made without this outburst" of violence, Trump said.

He said he also had instructed the U.S. Treasury to lift sanctions imposed on Turkey Oct. 14 when Turkey began its offensive.

Trump called on European countries to repatriate their nationals imprisoned in ISIS detention facilities, something they have been reluctant to do, fearing the importation of radical ideas.

"Now is their chance to finally act," he said.