In Turkey, top Republican urges slow US Syria pullout, MBS to be 'dealt with'

A senior Republican senator on Saturday urged President Donald Trump to slow down the withdrawal of US ground troops from Syria until jihadists were defeated to avoid a "nightmare" for Washington's allies.

"I would hope that President Trump would slow the withdrawal until we truly destroy ISIS," Lindsey Graham told a press conference in Ankara, using an acronym for the Islamic State extremist group.

He warned any hasty pullout could lead to a "nightmare" scenario for Israel because of increasing Iranian influence in the war-torn country and for Turkey because of its national security concerns.

The Israeli establishment was reportedly taken aback by Trump's surprise announcement in December last year, fearing that the withdrawal would allow Iran and Hezbollah to take advantage of the withdrawal.

Israel has regularly warned of Iran's growing influence in its war-torn northern neighbor. The Israeli leadership also regularly locks horns with the Turkish leader, and would rather not see an expansion of Ankara's influence in the region.

The South Carolina lawmaker was in Turkey from Friday for a two-day visit during which he met Turkish officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

His talks with Erdogan lasted for over two hours after which he was invited by the Turkish leader to a concert on Friday night by pianist Fazil Say.

Ankara welcomed Trump's announcement last month that the US would pull out its 2,000 military personnel from Syria but American officials and security experts have been more cautious, worried about withdrawing too early.

Graham said he believed the "goal of destroying ISIS is not yet accomplished".

Their defeat had been "accomplished territorially" but there were "thousands of ISIS fighters that lurk in Syria", Graham warned.

"All Americans wants our troops to come home, but we want to make sure that when they do, we're safe," the politician had said on Wednesday morning at an unrelated senate hearing.

Talking on the day of an ISIS attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including two service personnel, in the flashpoint northern Syrian city of Manbij, he said he had himself been in the restaurant that had been targeted.

"We're never going to be safe if people can't talk to each other. And the whole reason they were all in that restaurant, the Kurds, and the Arabs, and the Christians, is because we gave them that space," Graham said.

"You think what you want about 'those people' over there - they've had enough of killing," the senator added.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services committee, the Senator has frequently visited US troops in combat zones.

Conciling with Erdogan

Graham previously warned that "Kurds will get slaughtered" if the US withdrew immediately.

But on Saturday, the senator said the YPG's political branch, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), "is interlinked with the PKK" as he acknowledged Turkey's concerns over the militia.

Washington expressed concern over Turkey's plans to launch a cross-border military operation against the US-backed Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Trump last weekend warned of devastating economic consequences for Turkey over any attack on Kurdish forces.

US support for the YPG has caused tension with Ankara which views the militia as a "terrorist offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984, is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the US and the European Union.

The senator also took pains to come out against the US treatment Saudi ruler Mohammed Bin Salman after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul last year.

"The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States cannot move forward until MBS has been dealt with," Graham said.

Graham acknowledged that he had been "enthusiastic" in his support of Prince Mohammed but accepted he had been "wrong".

"What has transpired in the last couple of years is unnerving to say the least," he said, adding that renewed sanctions will be taken.

Best of rivals

Some have been puzzled over Graham's thawing relationship with Donald Trump in recent weeks.

The two men, who were rivals in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, appeared to have little in common.

But the two politicians have found common ground, especially over Trump's pro-life stance and his reshuffle of the judiciary establishment.

And if Graham has voiced concerns over the Syria pullout, he's been extremely supportive of the president's diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea.

He's also been supportive of Trump during the government shutdown, although he criticized the president for the way he dealth with Nancy Pelosi's Afghanistan trip.

"One sophomoric response does not deserve another," Graham said on Twitter, arguing that if Pelosi’s threat to cancel the State of the Union was "irresponsible", Trump's cancellation of her trip was not acceptable.

"President Trump denying Speaker Pelosi military travel to visit our troops in Afghanistan, our allies in Egypt and NATO is also inappropriate," he said.