(The Hill)
The House is set to take up additional sanctions against Turkey this week in response to Ankara’s invasion of northern Syria.
The vote comes in the wake of a cease-fire agreement, under which the Trump administration agreed to drop its own recent sanctions.
But lawmakers have been weighing how to respond to Trump’s decision to pull back troops in northern Syria, and Ankara’s subsequent invasion.
The legislation, spearheaded by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and the panel's top Republican Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), would sanction officials involved in Ankara’s offensive and banks involved in the defense sector until Turkey ends its military operations in Syria.
The bill would also mandate the White House to put additional sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of Russian made S-400 missile systems and prohibit American arms exports to the Turkish military, among other things.
“This bipartisan legislation, cosponsored by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, provides a strong, targeted response to the crisis caused by Turkey's invasion of Northern Syria,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said last week, announcing the vote. Read more