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| Turkey Syria offensive: Trump orders Turkey sanctions to be lifted | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The US is lifting sanctions on Turkey after its recent offensive against Kurdish fighters in north-eastern Syria, President Donald Trump says. | |
| His decision came after Russia agreed with Turkey to use troops to extend a ceasefire along the Syrian border. | |
| Turkey's offensive began after Mr Trump's unexpected decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria earlier this month. | |
| "Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand," the president said. | |
| "The sanctions will be lifted unless something happens that we're not happy with," he announced in a statement at the White House on Wednesday. | |
| He said Turkey had assured him that it would cease fighting in the region and would make the recently agreed ceasefire permanent. | |
| The US sanctions were imposed on 14 October in response to Turkey's offensive. | |
| Turkey sees Kurdish fighters as terrorists and wants to create a 30km (20-mile) deep "safe zone" along the Syrian side of the border. | |
| Mr Trump came under heavy criticism over the US military pullout, as the Kurds had been key US allies in the fight against the Islamic State group (IS) in the region. | |
| He said on Wednesday he would keep a "small number" of troops in parts of the country to protect oil installations. | |
| He also urged Turkey to commit to securing IS militants, and make sure the jihadist group does not regain any Syrian territory. |