ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday fended off an international backlash over Turkey’s offensive in northeast Syria that has wrought US economic sanctions and a widening arms embargo from Europe as fighting with Kurdish militants entered its seventh day.
Russia stepped into the lurch left by the United States’ about-face last week to abandon its Kurdish partners in Syria. Russian fighters Tuesday took over a US base and began patrolling a new frontline between Turkey and the Syrian government army that Moscow backs after the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) turned to Damascus to ward off the Turkish assault.
