President-elect Trump on Monday described the recent fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime as an ‘unfriendly takeover’ orchestrated by Turkey. 

‘I think Turkey is very smart,’ he said from a press conference at his Florida residence. ‘Turkey did an unfriendly takeover, without a lot of lives being lost. I can say that Assad was a butcher, what he did to children.’

Assad fled to Russia just over a week ago after the al Qaeda-derived organization dubbed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rapidly took over western Syria in an offensive that began on Nov. 27, first taking Aleppo, Hama and Homsc, before seizing the capital city of Damascus. 

The future of Syria, for both its government and its people, remains unclear as the HTS organization, deemed a terrorist network by the U.S. but which has the backing of the Turkey-supported Syrian National Army (SNA), looks to hold on to power. 

The fall of the Assad regime has meant an end to the nearly 14-year civil war that plagued the nation, though the threat against the U.S.- backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is not over as Turkey continues to view it as one of its chief regional adversaries. 

The SDF have assisted the U.S. in its fight against ISIS for more than a decade, but Turkey, which shares a border with Syria, has long viewed the group as being affiliated with the extremist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and which, through the SNA, has clashed with the Kurdish-led forces. 

It remains unclear how the Kurds will fair under a potential HTS regime, but Western security experts are increasingly concerned that Turkey could have an outsized amount of influence on the neighboring nation. 

‘The fall of Assad greatly amplified Turkey’s influence in Syria, giving unprecedented influence to his partners and proxies. If the United States wants to ensure that Syria has the best chance to become a reasonably free and stable country, it needs to keep a very close eye on [Turkish President Recep] Erdogan,’ David Adesnik, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

Last week, the U.S. brokered a cease-fire agreement between the SDF and the SNA over the northeastern city of Manbij, where SDF coalition forces agreed to withdraw from the area after resisting attacks since Nov. 27, according to a Reuters report. 

But sources told Fox News Digital on Monday that negotiations relating to the cease-fire had collapsed and that the SNA had begun building up military forces west of the Kurdish town of Kobani – roughly 35 miles east of Manbij – in an apparent threat to resume combat operations.

The terms of the cease-fire remain unclear, and neither the White House nor the State Department responded to Fox News Digital’s questions.

According to a statement released by the SDF, the mediation efforts by the U.S. failed to establish a permanent truce in Manbij-Kobani regions due to Turkey’s ‘evasion to accept key points,’ including the safe transfer of civilians and Manbij fighters.

‘Despite U.S. efforts to stop the war, Turkey and its mercenary militias have continued to escalate over the last period,’ the SDF said.

A spokesperson for Turkey’s U.N. Mission did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

‘The re-eruption of tensions around Kobani underlines the extent to which Assad’s fall has ‘opened the gates’ for Turkey and its SNA proxies in northern Syria,’ Charles Lister, director of the Syria and countering terrorism and extremism programs at the Middle East Institute (MEI), told Fox News Digital. ‘For the first time, they’re free to act without a green light from Assad or Russia.’

The dynamic between the SDF and SNA forces, backed by Washington and Ankara, respectively, has long proved difficult to maneuver given that both the U.S. and Turkey are allies in NATO.

‘After the loss of Tel Rifat and Manbij in recent weeks, the only possible obstacle to further SDF losses is the presence of U.S. troops – but Turkey’s role within NATO has always limited U.S. options,’ Lister explained.

‘[U.S. Central Command Gen. Michael’ Kurilla’s recent visit and the SDF’s willingness to cede Manbij spoke to the unprecedentedly isolated position the SDF currently faces,’ he added in reference to a visit Kurilla made to Syria last week. ‘If the SDF is going to survive these challenges, it’s going to need to be extremely flexible, willing to concede on major issues, and rely heavily on U.S. diplomacy with Turkey.’

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is growing more brazen by the day in its aggressive spying right here in the United States and pre-positioning for cyberattacks on our critical infrastructure. Recent reporting that China-sponsored hackers compromised America’s major cellular network providers should be the last straw. It is time for Congress and the incoming Trump administration to impose escalating costs to deter the CCP. 

According to reports, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actors compromised more than a dozen telecom providers — including America’s major cellular networks — capturing real-time phone call audio and text messages and stealing the data of millions of Americans. Federal authorities have described this CCP targeting effort as a ‘broad and significant cyber espionage campaign’— one that continues, as these CCP-affiliated actors are still in our telecommunications networks today.     

China appears to have targeted President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and staffers of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign. However, the total number of victims is unknown, and the list of known targets continues to grow.  

The breach of these cellular networks means that the data, text messages and phone calls of many regular Americans have likely been siphoned off for use by our foremost foreign adversary, the CCP.  

This attack on American sovereignty should not come as a surprise. For too long, the CCP has paid no real price for its increasingly aggressive intrusions into our homeland. 

For years, the CCP has operated secret police stations right here in the United States, using them to persecute Americans on U.S. soil if they dared to challenge the party’s line. 

When China flew a spy balloon across the entire United States, the Biden administration watched and tolerated the balloon’s overflight for days — and China paid no price diplomatically, economically or otherwise for the intrusion.   

A year after the spy balloon fiasco, top cybersecurity officials told Congress that Volt Typhoon, a PRC state-sponsored cyber actor, had burrowed in our critical infrastructure for at least five years. This includes the services Americans depend on daily, such as water providers, electric grids, oil and gas pipelines and transportation infrastructure.  

Volt Typhoon’s use of ‘living off the land’ techniques marked a shift in China’s tactics — one that has made them harder to detect. As a result, Volt Typhoon can disrupt our critical infrastructure at any time, wreaking havoc across the country and potentially putting American lives in peril. 

In the face of each brazen attack, the Biden administration played defense. It is past time to hit back. 

The CCP’s spying campaign will continue to escalate until we impose real costs on the Chinese Communist Party to make the CCP think twice before targeting the United States. 

Sending a message of American strength will require Congress and the incoming administration to respond by imposing escalating costs on the CCP that are directly targeted at the party’s core interests.  

Even as it pursues the world’s largest military build-up, the Chinese government still spends more on internal security than national defense, pointing to the party’s fundamental insecurity about its ability to exert its will over the Chinese people.  

Our policy options should target this vulnerability, including by rapidly escalating sanctions against top CCP officials who are involved in human rights abuses, such as the genocide against the Uyghurs. Existing authorities should be used to impose costs on China’s national economic champions, whose successes are seen as vital to the party’s interests. Finally, we should expose the personal fortunes and malign activities of senior CCP officials and deny visas to their families and associates. These actions could impose real costs that could change future calculations. 

We must also be unafraid to pursue cyber-enabled options to counter CCP espionage and targeting of critical infrastructure. For example, the President should give our government cyber operators greater latitude to conduct offensive operations. 

At the same time, the U.S. needs to get its own cyber house in order. Our sclerotic cyber threat notification system is broken and needs radical changes to operate at the speed and scale of the evolving threat landscape. We need clear rules for the private sector that incentivize timely information sharing and appropriately hold companies accountable for failures to protect their systems and their customers’ data. 

Volt Typhoon’s use of ‘living off the land’ techniques marked a shift in China’s tactics — one that has made them harder to detect. As a result, Volt Typhoon can disrupt our critical infrastructure at any time, wreaking havoc across the country and potentially putting American lives in peril. 

Cybersecurity teams must aggressively seek out and fix the most dangerous risks to their networks. We also need to empower private sector threat hunters to aggressively seek out intelligence so they can get ahead of the threat, rather than simply playing whack-a-mole against China’s relentless intrusion attempts. 

Defending America on U.S. soil and in the digital realm goes beyond firewalls and regulations. It requires a strategic shift that prioritizes consequences over containment. 

As the threat of CCP’s aggression continues to grow, it is clear that America’s security cannot rely on defensive measures alone. The time has come for the Executive Branch to respond with targeted but decisive actions that impose actual costs on the CCP. 

Rep. Mark Green, a Republican, is a physician and combat veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, where he served three tours. He interviewed Saddam Hussein for six hours on the night of his capture. He is chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and serves on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.

One of the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories pivots on what Sherlock notes: the curious incident of the dog in the night. When the Scotland Yard inspector says the dog did nothing in the night, Sherlock explains that was what was curious. Understanding why the dog didn’t bark was essential to solving the mystery.  

In our case, many political professionals, in the best Scotland Yard fashion, have noted that in the 2024 election, abortion ‘did nothing.’ That’s a starkly different outcome than what Democrats expected, based on the post-Dobbs 0-for-12 loss record (with the results in Virginia in 2023 being counted as a draw), on abortion-related ballot initiatives and special elections, and crushing expected red waves.  

Why was 2024 different? Did abortion just disappear as a concern, overwhelmed by the economy and illegal immigration? Or was there something that kept that dog from barking? The answer matters to future elections. 

In early 2024, my firm, Suasion Insights, began research both nationally and with a deep dive in Pennsylvania, tasked with seeing if there was any way pro-life Republicans could at least neutralize the abortion issue without abandoning their principles. 

We shared our findings with federal GOP campaigns and organizations, starting with five foundational insights on what was driving, and triggering, those otherwise getable voters they were losing over this issue. 

First, for 48% nationally, rough agreement with — i.e., not fearing — a candidate on abortion is a gateway requirement to then considering other issues.  

Second, 50% think the GOP can’t be trusted on abortion, and two-thirds of Americans think Republicans lack empathy. 

Third, the term ‘pro-life’ has a toxic brand/perception outside of the pro-life community, meaning opposition to all abortions — maybe also opposition to exceptions (which are very important to voters), including possibly for the life of the mother. (The Left understands this, which is why even bills that only restrict abortion for late in a pregnancy are described as a ban, stoking the fears that a total ban is the real intent.) 

Moreover, the label ‘pro-life’ means support for only the fetus, not the woman (a problem when only 8% nationally think the baby is more important throughout the pregnancy) and a hypocritical support for ‘life’ given likely simultaneous approval of the death penalty, support for guns, and opposition to funding for pre- and post-natal care, rare disease testing and social support through people’s lives. 

Fourth, and in contrast, ‘pro-choice’ has a centrist brand perception, seen as a catchall, including anything from a six-week limit to unrestricted abortion. Moreover, pro-choice voters assume that, of course, Democrats don’t want abortions, and that late-term abortions are not only few but medically necessary, making GOP rhetoric not credible. 

Fifth, voters across all groups are open to supporting candidates who support less restrictive policies than their personal preferences, but not more restrictive. The post-Dobbs abortion ballot initiative track record illustrates this point: no state ballot initiative that would make that state’s law more restrictive has passed.  

But our research also showed a winning message would stop politicizing abortion — a trap Democrats fell into with, for example, their overwrought ad of the woman on the floor dying while a GOP senator prevents her from getting treatment for a miscarriage. 

We showed there were better ways for Republicans to express their empathy and concerns for women and their needs at this difficult time, both individually and necessarily as a party.  

We were gratified to see the GOP change their platform language as the old language would have been used as a club against every GOP candidate. President-elect Donald Trump talked about exceptions whenever he spoke about abortion. He explicitly ruled out a federal law. And most GOP candidates were very clear that, like the top of the ticket, they opposed any national ban. 

You could hear the air come out of the abortion issue for the left, something that only accelerated after Vice President-elect JD Vance’s debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, which was a masterclass in reassuring women that this wasn’t a game to make every state look like Alabama.  

Vance never pivoted from the issue. He never used the term ‘pro-life.’ He began with empathy, not politics or policy, telling the story of a woman he loves who had an abortion that she felt saved her life. He acknowledged there were different opinions on the issue. He talked about the need for Republicans to rebuild trust. 

He used the high-ground, pro-woman argument: we need to give women control (affordability, family planning/contraception/fertility treatments) to solve the real problem (unwanted pregnancies), not just focus on the symptoms of the problem (abortion). He did not talk about adoption and foster care, which are seen more as anti-abortion than pro-woman, but did reclaim freedom and talked about childcare and fertility, two big issues for women. 

Even when he went on offense, he did not talk in the usual activist way about ‘killing babies’ or use other emotional language that backfires but stuck with facts and the idea that the left goes ‘too far’ — the way most people talk. He was clear in his opposition to a ban and never used the word ‘ban’ outside of the context of partial-birth abortions.  

He reminded us we are a diverse country and underlined the importance of letting voters decide. In recognizing that different states will have different policies, Vance showed that he is listening to women and voters and recognizes the need to win back trust, hearts and minds. 

We showed there were better ways for Republicans to express their empathy and concerns for women and their needs at this difficult time, both individually and necessarily as a party.  

Changing how the GOP was perceived on the issue of abortion, minimizing fear and being empathetic and reassuring was the dog that didn’t bark and made it possible for voters to focus on the other issues. 

As we look forward to future elections, the question will be: will the pro-life movement and GOP politicians learn how to neutralize the issue, so they don’t lose more ground? Will they in fact choose to win (because there is a way they could get nearly 70% support for their less extreme positions)? Or will they revert to barking in the way that satisfies their most hardcore supporters while creating collateral losses elsewhere? Only time will tell. 

JERUSALEM – President-elect Trump could be the key factor in stopping the reported Turkish destruction of the pro-U.S. Syrian Kurdish community, Fox News senior strategic analyst and retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane told Fox News’ Mark Levin on ‘Life, Liberty & Levin’ on Saturday.

‘Erdoğan is a real problem here. He has a corridor in northern Syria. He backed the radical leader who took over, al-Golani, in deposing Assad because he’s been wanting Assad to go like we all did for years, but now what is he doing? Now he’s attacking the Syrian Kurds, who we support, in eastern Syria.’

Keane said, ‘Biden is not going to do anything about it, but President Trump has a huge opportunity, and I know for a fact that President Trump dealt with Erdoğan once before over the same issue. And it stopped as a result of a phone conversation that he had with President Erdoğan.’

Keane said one of Trump’s first telephone conversations once in office will probably be with Erdoğan, ‘if he hasn’t started talking to him already.’ 

He said the motivation of the Syrian Kurds in eastern Syria is not to seize Turkish territory but to ensure ISIS remains defeated and make sure ‘they do not rise again,’ adding that the U.S. ‘doesn’t need to get involved in any consequential way in Syria other than to protect our own interests and make certain that ISIS doesn’t rise again in eastern Syria which they have the potential to do.’

While world leaders are largely focused on the collapse of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s regime, Turkey’s strongman ruler Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has mobilized forces loyal to his government to eradicate Kurdish combatants on his southern border to Syria that helped the U.S. defeat the terrorist movement ISIS. 

Alarm bells are ringing about the dire plight of the Syrian Kurds.

‘Turkey has become too aggressive. If they get a free rein in Syria, they may covertly commit an ethnic cleansing,’ warned Efrat Aviv, a professor in the Department of General History at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a leading expert on Turkey, in a statement to Fox News Digital.

In an apparent effort to modify his jihadi movement, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of the U.S.-designated terrorist movement, Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which played a decisive role in toppling Assad’s regime, said, ‘The Kurds are part of the nation and have suffered great injustices, just as we have. With the regime’s fall, the injustice they faced may also be lifted.’

Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was until recently known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad-Golani, is allied with Turkey. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. had made ‘direct contact’ with HTS despite it being an outlawed terrorist entity.

Mazloum Abdi, the head of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on Saturday urged Kurdish parties in northeast Syria (Rojava) to generate a unified front.

‘Today, Kurdish national unity in Syria has become a historic necessity in response to the challenges of this critical phase. We call on all Kurdish parties to set aside partisan interests and genuinely engage with public calls for dialogue and unity,’ Abdi wrote on X.

Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., posted on X, ‘In the past I have drafted sanctions targeting Turkey if they engage in military operations against the Kurdish forces who helped President Trump destroy ISIS. I stand ready to do this again in a bipartisan way.

‘We should not allow the Kurdish forces – who helped us destroy ISIS on President Trump’s watch – to be threatened by Turkey or the radical Islamists who have taken over Syria.’

The Dutch Parliament also intervened last week to protect the Syrian Kurds, urging its government to advocate for a cessation of Turkish attacks on Kurds. 

The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced on Sunday in response to the ongoing attacks by pro-Turkey forces, ‘We are facing significant threats and dangers, and we call on the Global Coalition and the entire world to unite with us to protect Kobani.’

‘The world now owes Kobani and its fighters, and it is time to stand with Kobani,’ the statement continued, ‘calling on the Global Coalition and freedom-loving individuals to unite and safeguard the region’s dignity and humanity.’

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was the former head of the country’s formidable intelligence service, MIT, said on Sunday in Jordan about his country’s view of the Kurdish political and military organizations, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and The People’s Defense Units (YPG):’We are under threat from Iraq and Syria. Over the past decade, the PKK has sought to exploit the chaos in Syria, attempting to restructure itself within the SDF organization. We continue to combat PKK/YPG terrorism, targeting them wherever they are.’

He added, ‘Our aim is to distinguish the Syrian Kurds from the terrorist organization PKK/YPG. We support the legitimate representatives of Syrian Kurds in their efforts to advocate for their rights in Damascus.’

The YPG is the main U.S.-allied force that contributed to the defeat of ISIS. The U.S. classified the PKK as a foreign terrorist organization. The YPG falls under the rubric of the Syrian Kurdish organization, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.)

Turkey’s government has intensified its rhetoric against the Kurds. Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said on Sunday  ‘Our primary agenda is the dissolution of the PKK/YPG.’

Incoming freshman Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., whose parents are Syrian immigrants, told Fox News Digital, ‘As we evaluate Turkey’s recent airstrikes on Syrian Kurds and reports of Hamas operatives in Turkey, it’s clear that our alliances must be anchored in mutual respect and shared goals. For decades, Turkey has been a strategic partner, but hosting groups like Hamas without clear steps toward dismantling their operations undermines that relationship. Turkey must seize this opportunity to demonstrate it is committed to fighting terror, not enabling it.’

When asked by Fox News Digital if the U.S. was contemplating sanctioning Turkey, a State Department spokesperson said, ‘As a general matter, we do not preview sanctions.’

The State Department referred Fox News Digital on Friday to comments made earlier on Friday after Blinken’s meeting with Fidan in Turkey. 

The statement said, in part, ‘Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of U.S.-Turkish cooperation in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS mission in Syria.’