Trump is sending four of his men to Turkey and meeting with lawmakers in Congress

Four of Trump's closest men will travel to Turkey later in the day to try to contain the Turkish military's "spring of peace" operation days after a US green light launched, as Trump consulted with congressional leaders who were outraged at the withdrawal of US troops from their northern positions. Syria.

President Donald Trump announced that his deputy Mike Pence will head a delegation to Turkey on Wednesday with the participation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser Robert O'Brien and special envoy to Syria James Jeffrey.

The White House said in a statement that Pines will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to urge him to cease fire on the Syrian border, in preparation for a negotiated settlement.

The US statement added that Pines will make clear to Erdogan that sanctions will not be lifted from Turkey until after the cessation of hostilities and a settlement.

In the context, Reuters quoted a senior State Department official as saying that Washington's first goal is to seek through diplomacy for a ceasefire in Syria.

All the US troops have now left Manbij, the senior official said. He confirmed that there had been no successful large-scale escapes of ISIS detainees in Syria.

He also noted that the United States continues to control airspace in northeastern Syria.

To meet legislators
Meanwhile, congressional aides said the president will meet with Republican and Democratic presidents of the House and Senate as well as the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees at the White House today to discuss the situation in Syria.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader in the Senate, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives and Democratic leader, as well as the chairman and senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs Committee and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, the sources said.

The meeting coincides with growing concern among lawmakers, including some Republicans, over Trump's decision to withdraw troops from northeastern Syria, opening the way for a Turkish attack on US-allied Kurdish factions fighting ISIS alongside the Americans.

For his part, said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy Trump allowed Turkey to intervene in Syria, and he issued a press release in which he announced "proudly Turkish invasion" in the words of the senator.

"Trump brushed the roses on the ground to welcome the Turks," Murphy said in a tweet on Twitter, saying it was crazy to invite Ankara to the invasion and then punish her.

Accusations of treason
Trump defended his change of policy toward Syria as part of a plan to get the United States out of "endless" wars in the Middle East, pursuant to his vision that his country should not be the world's policeman.

But his critics, including senior figures in his Republican Party, portrayed the president as a betrayal of the Kurds, "loyal allies who have lost thousands of fighters while serving as the main ground force in Washington's battle against the Islamic State."

Russian position
Meanwhile, Interfax news agency reported, quoting an army statement, that the defense minister and his US counterpart discussed the situation in Syria by telephone.

The Kremlin's envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiyev, said on Tuesday that Turkey had no right to deploy troops permanently in the country.

Lavrentiyev added that, according to previous agreements, the Turkish army could penetrate only five to 10 kilometers into Syrian territory. "Moscow does not approve of the Turkish military operation."

President Vladimir Putin discussed with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan the conflict in Syria and invited him to visit Russia "in the coming days," the Kremlin said in a statement late Tuesday.

The Kremlin said that Putin invited Erdogan to visit work in the coming days has been accepted, according to the statement, adding that the two presidents stressed "the need to prevent a confrontation between Turkish and Syrian units" in northern Syria.

During the telephone conversation, the two presidents also stressed their desire to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria, according to the Kremlin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti on Wednesday that Erdogan's visit could take place before the end of this month without giving further details.

A week ago, Turkey launched a military operation in northern Syria against the YPG, which Ankara considers a terrorist group allied with Kurdish separatist guerrillas in Turkey.

Turkey says it aims to defeat the group and establish a "safe zone" inside Syria to resettle many of the 3.6 million refugees who fled the Syrian war and are hosted by Ankara on its territory.