BREAKING: Turkey Launches Attack on Kurds in Northern Syria

Turkish forces have begun bombarding Kurds in Northern Syria on the heels of President Donald Trump’s snap decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the region, and CNN reports that Kurds are fleeing “for their lives.”

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his military’s offensive in Syria had begun, and CNN reported that Turkish warplanes “are carrying out airstrikes in civilian areas.”

Correspondent Clarissa Ward reported live from a town near the border, and told anchor Erica Hill that the area had been “bombarded steadily for the last few hours.”

“The air is thick with black smoke and we are in a massive traffic jam,” Ward said. “We are talking hundreds if not thousands of vehicles full of civilians who are panicking, who are desperate to get out of this town, who are afraid for their lives and don’t know where they’re going tonight.”

She called the scene a “truly desperate situation,” and pointed out that “these people, many of them, are Kurds, who have been the most steadfast allies that the U.S. Has had in the fight against ISIS.”

Following his much-criticized snap decision to withdraw from Syria, Trump issued a threat that he would “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey” if they did anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off-limits.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

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