US senator Graham ignores Turkish national security, threatens sanctions over Syria

While millions of Syrians celebrate liberation as Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell on Dec. 7, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham shared a post on X which ignores NATO ally Türkiye’s national security concerns and threatens sanctions.

Graham stated that the YPG/PKK terrorist organization should not be “threatened by Türkiye or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria.” The ‘radical Islamists’ Graham is most likely referencing are the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), who have made promises to ensure safety to all Syrians, not seek revenge on the Assad regime, and establish proper governance structure which benefits all Syrians.

The Assad regime, meanwhile, stands guilty of killing over half a million of its own citizens.

I appreciate the air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, but it will not be enough. We have to ensure that the roughly 50,000 ISIS prisoners in northeastern Syria — being primarily held by Kurdish forces — are not released.

We should not allow the Kurdish forces — who helped…

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 9, 2024

The senator goes on the state that ‘50,000’ imprisoned Daesh members under YPG/PKK controlled prisons risk being released, specifying, “The last time ISIS (Daesh) was in charge, thousands of Europeans and Americans were killed by ISIS plots that originated in Syria.”

Graham overlooked the fact that Türkiye received some of the worst Daesh attacks. The terrorist organization conducted 16 separate attacks from 2014 to 2017, leading to the deaths of hundreds of Turkish citizens.

Senator Graham underlined that U.S. national interest relies on the YPG/PKK, threatening to enact new sanctions against Türkiye if actions were taken against the terrorist group.