FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) speaks during the introduction of the Climate Action Now Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution on Friday opposing President Donald Trump’s decision to clear the way for Turkey to attack Kurdish fighters, underscoring unhappiness from both Democrats and Trump’s fellow Republicans in the U.S. Congress over his Syria policy.
Representatives Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mike McCaul, the committee’s ranking Republican, introduced the resolution expressing strong support for Kurdish forces in Syria and recognizing their contribution to the fight against Islamic State militants.
It also called on Turkey to immediately stop military action in northeast Syria and called on the United States to stand with Syrian Kurdish communities affected by violence.
The measure is not binding, but it comes as more and more members of Congress are criticizing the administration over the issue.
Lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives are also working on legislation that would impose stiff sanctions on Turkey and its leaders over its offensive, which European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday risks becoming a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Daniel Wallis